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Key events
15 min: That was a fine goal. Not the greatest defending by Gvardiol, mind you. Perhaps his head’s still spinning after the runaround Ben Doak gave him at Hampden last week.
GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Maddison 13)
Well this scoreline is absolutely absurd! City could easily be two or three up, but they’re trailing! Kulusevski brushes off Gvardiol down the right. He cuts back before curling a sensational cross over the stranded Stones and towards Maddison, who sidefoots the dropping ball into the bottom left. What a goal! What a weird game football can be sometimes!
11 min: Savinho turns gracefully into space down the left, leaving an over-committed Dragusin flummoxed, and finds Haaland on the penalty spot. Haaland takes a first-time swipe towards the bottom right. Vicario kicks clear. Another huge chance for Haaland, though he was denied by some excellent goalkeeping this time.
10 min: Spurs launch their first attack, Son advancing down the left and whistling a dangerous pass across the face of the six-yard box. But there’s nobody else in white up with play, and Akanji calmly lets the ball through.
9 min: Gundogan shovels a pass down the middle and nearly finds Foden in the middle. Spurs swarm and hack clear, but they can’t keep on like this. Already it feels like a City goal is merely a matter of time.
8 min: Silva nearly finds Walker in the box down the right with a diagonal wedged pass, but there’s too much juice on the ball. Goal kick, though Walker looked offside anyway. Had he managed to extend a leg and divert the pass into the goal, VAR would surely have chalked it off.
6 min: Another corner for City, this time swung in by Gundogan from the left. Maddison manages to get it clear, and the ball is soon back at the feet of Ederson, which qualifies as a minor victory for Spurs, the way both teams have started.
5 min: Nothing comes of the corner. In a parallel universe, Haaland already has two goals to his name this evening.
4 min: City should be leading, and again Haaland is at fault for not putting his side ahead. Gvardiol slips a pass down the inside-right channel and Haaland is free! Simple as that! But his first touch is poor and the time he needs to dig the ball back out from under his feet allows Davies to come across and block the eventual shot out for a corner.
3 min: Gvardiol crosses from the left for Haaland, who strangely doesn’t go for goal from his position on the right-hand corner of the six-yard box. His header back across the face is cleared. But this is a fast start by City. Spurs have barely had a touch since that kick-off fiasco.
2 min: Gundogan sends the resulting free kick towards the far stick. Akanji is unable to turn it goalwards. Goal kick.
Spurs get the ball rolling … and lose it within seconds. Foden advances down the right and Bissouma cynically clips him from behind. The tackle on 12 seconds, the booking on 16. Enjoy the rest of your evening, Yves!
Rodri may be missing from the Manchester City line-up, but he’s in the house tonight. The main Etihad lights are dimmed and the influential midfielder comes onto the pitch, kissing his Ballon d’Or before raising it to the sky in front of tall lights that spell out RODRI in Elvis ‘68 Comeback Special style. And then the teams come out, City in blue, Spurs in white. We’ll be off in a minute.
Ange Postecoglou talks to Sky. “A lot of internationals are coming back … Madders has been training with us and is probably one of the fresher ones … we’re mindful of the fact we’re going to have to have a little of the ball today … start well that way … Brennan will play a huge part when he comes on … when you play City, if you give them too much of the ball they’ll cause you problems … we’ll probably move Kulusevski wide … he’s done well against City in that area.”
Pep Guardiola is asked by Sky Sports whether his new contract will give his team a positive boost. “Positivity depends on the way we play … it is how you have to perform … winning games … we have had many injuries … many are now coming back which is good news for us … it is nice to see players available to play.”
He’s also asked who will take up the Rodri role in the Ballon’ d’Or winner’s absence now Mateo Kovačić is out for a month. Rico Lewis? Pep smiles enigmatically. “You will see it.”
The 3pm kick-offs have finished, and it’s getting tight at the top. Arsenal have beaten Nottingham Forest 3-0 while Brighton won 2-1 at Bournemouth. Throw in Chelsea’s earlier 2-1 victory at Leicester, and the chasing pack are closing in on second-placed City. Meanwhile ten-man Brentford’s staunch goalless draw at Everton pushes Spurs into the bottom half of the table, for a couple of hours at least.
Manchester City make three changes in the wake of their 2-1 defeat at Brighton & Hove Albion. John Stones, Bernardo Silva and Manuel Akanji are back in; Matheus Nunes and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey drop to the bench, while Mateo Kovačić is absent through injury.
Tottenham also make three changes after their 2-1 loss against Ipswich Town. James Maddison, Yves Bissouma and Ben Davies return to the starting XI, with Brennan Johnson dropping to the bench, Cristian Romero injured, and Rodrigo Bentancur suspended.
The teams
Manchester City: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Lewis, Gundogan, Silva, Savinho, Foden, Haaland.
Subs: Ortega, Ake, Grealish, De Bruyne, Nunes, Wright, Simpson-Pusey, O’Reilly, McAtee.
Tottenham Hotspur: Vicario, Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie, Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Kulusevski, Son, Solanke.
Subs: Forster, Spence, Hardy, Gray, Bergvall, Olusesi, Johnson, Werner, Lankshear.
Referee: John Brooks
VAR: Michael Salisbury
Preamble
We’ve just had an international break, and yet it feels like these two never went away. They’ve hardly been out of the news all week: Pep Guardiola with his new two-year extension to his Manchester City contract, Spurs dealing with the Bentancur Imbroglio. In that sense there’s more of a feel-good vibe around City right now … but then Spurs have only lost their last two matches, while City have lost their last four. Six and two threes.
Thing is, lads, look, listen mate, it’s Dr Tottenham, they’ve found themselves in this sort of state before; City, in their modern guise, not so often. Pep not at all. So it’s going to be interesting to watch the gilded champions attempt to bounce back. They don’t particularly enjoy playing Spurs, either, and that’s not even 1981 FA Cup final-infused DNA: Spurs beat City’s reserve team last month in the League Cup, while dealing them last-minute blows on two of their last three visits to the Etihad, here and here. Those two matches were sandwiched by this one, to be fair, and that’ll be the peg on which City today hang their hat. All of which is a long-winded way of saying, this could be great fun, because recent history – and indeed both matches of that epic 1981 clash – suggests pretty much anything could happen. Kick-off is at 5.30pm GMT. It’s on!