Key events
25 mins: Randal Kolo Muani is a France international of 31 caps – and nine goals. He was in the PSG side for a while. He looks completely lost in this Tottenham team.
That mazy run from Cherki was like something out of a school game when the kid in the local professional academy turns up and just bosses it. Vicario did make a brilliant save, actually.
24 mins: Cherki dribbles on and on and on and almost doubles his and City’s tally for the game after selling a dummy on Dragusin. It’s wide in the end I think via a Vicario touch, although the officials give a goal kick.
The effort from Simons whacks into the wall and Donnarumma collects the afters. As you were.
22 mins: Spurs get themselves a free-kick on the edge of the City box after a rash tackle on Gallagher by Khusanov. It’s a nasty one on the ankle from the City centre-back. Is this an opportunity for Tottenham? Well, yes it is. Will they take it? I’m dubious.
20 mins: If you’re not watching along and only following this live blog, I really must make clear how utterly hopeless Spurs have been in this opening 20 minutes.
19 mins: Archie Gray brings Spurs forward as the home side show a rare moment of coherence on the ball. It doesn’t last long.
Cherki is getting the freedom of north London when he receives it in the Tottenham half. It’s incredible how much space he’s getting.
I do wonder if there’s an element of wanting City to catch Arsenal in the title race to this muted Spurs crowd right now. They’ve got form for it …
Haaland lobs one over the crossbar. He could have done better there you know.
17 mins: Cherki is down with a knock so time for an email from Joshua Keeling
How quiet is it at Spurs?! There was barely even a reaction from the home fans to them going behind. They want to get a grip and stop sulking, sitting there in their incredible new stadium, which most fans could only dream of. This sort of sullen silence will not help their team to improve.
“This doesn’t feel right… eerie almost,” says Gary Neville on Sky commentary duty.
It’s like a training session for Manchester City’s players.
14 mins: Judging from their reaction to that goal, Spurs fans have gone beyond anger and are now at the acceptance stage. Their team are looking ragged at the moment. You feel City will get a second goal if and when they want it.
Bissouma was robbed of the ball in midfield and then it was so simple for Haaland to just move it on to Cherki on the right. The Frenchman’s shot took a slight nick, but Vicario wasn’t close to saving it.
An odd goal to cap an odd start to the game.
GOAL! Tottenham 0-1 Manchester City (Cherki, 11)
Table of Contents
My word that was so so easy! Rayan Cherki picks his spot and, out of nothing, Manchester City strike first.
It’s deafeningly quiet at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
11 mins: Why would you bring your centre-backs forward for a set-piece and then play it short?
Just one of the many things that baffle me about modern football. Xavi Simons did it twice just then.
10 mins: Tottenham’s pressing structure – or lack thereof – is slightly strange. Just one man pressing at a time and it’s all too straightforward for City to knock it around them.
This has been a subdued start all round.
8 mins: I made a pre-match cup of tea which is far too strong. Don’t know what I was thinking leaving the bag in that long.
It’s been scrappy stuff on the pitch in the past minute or two.
6 mins: It’s a game of cat and mouse right now, with Spurs reluctant to play the ball through midfield and City waiting for the right moment to press. Romero is seeing a lot of it, as the central piece in that back three.
5 mins: Simons rakes a long pass towards Kolo Muani, who is playing high and right, with Spurs looking to catch City on the transition. City are playing their trademark high line, so there ought to be chances for the hosts.
3 mins: Palhinha’s first test of the afternoon is against Semenyo, who was found nicely by Haaland with City driving forward. The Portuguese backed off but fortunately for him Vicario read Semenyo’s finish, which was guided to the far post from the left.
1 min: Palhinha does look very deep on the right hand side of a three-man central defence. Interesting. Think he performed a similar role against Frankfurt in Europe.
KICK OFF
We’re off!
Sky have Palhinha down as a third centre-back with Archie Gray playing wing-back in a 3-4-3 of sorts. Let’s see how Spurs shape up in the early stages.
The teams are out and we’re almost good to go.
An email from Spurs fan SF Devereux:
As well as those eight you mentioned (Maddison, Kulusevski, Kudus, van de Ven, Bentancur, Bergvall, Porro and Davies), we’re also without Richarlison, Kevin Danso, Djed Spence and Wilson Odobert. We just need a goalkeeper to go down injured today and we’ll have a pretty competitive, tactically balanced XI missing, with a couple of options available to come off the bench.
(Odobert is on the bench today, so presumably he’s at least semi-fit).
“We are hit pretty hard by injuries… but it’s part of the game, we have to find solutions,” says Frank on Sky. He reveals Kevin Danso sustained a toe injury just before this game, which added his name to the list of absentees.
“Even with the injuries there are signs we’re going in the right direction. But we need a spell of consistent results.”
Spurs have won seven from 23 in the league this season; they won five of their eight Champions League group games.
Pep Guardiola is in good spirits during his pre-match chat with Sky Sports. He praises Arsenal as formidable leaders in the title race but says City still have “hope”. A win today would close the gap to four points again, so you have more than just hope, Josep.
The 2pm games are all now complete – and there was some ridiculous stoppage-time drama at Old Trafford:
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Aston Villa 0-1 Brentford
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Manchester United 3-2 Fulham
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Nottingham Forest 1-1 Crystal Palace
That Brentford victory came with 10 men, too, that’s some blow for Villa playing at home. City will see that result as a boost to their title hopes; I think it pretty much leaves two teams in the race for the league championship.
This is what Thomas Frank said about Spurs’s January pursuit of Antoine Semenyo:
The club worked relentlessly to try and improve the squad, we can’t be too obsessed with short-term fixes. I will go against my rule, hopefully only once, that there’s no doubt the club wanted to sign Semenyo.
He’s definitely going to score today, isn’t he?
Pep has formed part of a football dynasty at the Etihad, of course. Take the current women’s team, managed by Andrée Jeglertz, who are marching towards the WSL title, currently hammering perennial champions Chelsea.
Here’s live coverage of the latter stages of that one.
Pep Guardiola has been Manchester City manager for more than a decade. Some stint. Here’s Rob Draper on the day English football changed forever.
That Spurs bench tells its own story. Thomas Frank has been beset by injuries for the bulk of the season. He’s without Maddison, Kulusevski, Kudus, Van de Ven, Bentancur, Bergvall, Porro and Davies today – and that’s just off the top of my head.
Archie Gray at right-back certainly has a job on his hands to contain Antoine Semenyo, who Spurs tried to sign earlier in the window. The former Bournemouth man has been electric sign he joined City, slotting straight into Pep Guardiola’s preferred XI.
Against a Spurs defence that has looked vulnerable to say the least of late, he will surely be licking his lips.
Team news
Tottenham: Vicarious; Gray, Romero, Dragusin, Udogie; Palhinha, Bissouma, Gallagher; Kolo Muani, Solanke, Simons.
Subs: Kinsky, Tel, Odobert, Sarr, Souza, Olusesi, Kyerematen, Byfield, Rowswell.
Manchester City: Donnaruemma; Nine, Chusanov, Guéhi, Aït-Nouri; Rodri, O’Reilly, Bernard Silva; Burning, Haaland, Semenyo.
Subs: Trafford, Reijnders, Aké, Marmoush, González, Foden, McAidoo, Alleyne, Lewis.
Preamble
Welcome along to this the headline fixture of the Premier League weekend. Out-of-form Tottenham welcome title-challenging Manchester City in a game fans of both teams may well want City to win, given Spurs supporters’ preference to see Arsenal bottle fail to win the title.
There will be no such thoughts from Thomas Frank of course. The former Brentford coach desperately needs some league wins to go with his team’s positive Champions League campaign and, despite City’s lofty league standing, can have some hope of a decent result given this fixture’s recent history. Tottenham have won three of their last four games against Pep Guardiola’s side and eight of the last 15 dating back to 2020. People talk about Dr Tottenham but maybe City simply develop a strong case of Cityitis whenever they face Spurs.
It all gets under way at 4.30pm (GMT) at the the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Join us for team news and updates next, before match updates of course.
