Last updated & checked: 10/08/2021
Now this is how you kick off a football tournament! Well, not quite: Man City and Spurs have, of course, both already had their opening Premier League contests. Nonetheless, for fixtures this early on, you can’t get much more exciting than this.
This is the first serious challenge for both sides this season. With all respect to the efforts of West Ham and Aston Villa, neither appeared in danger of upsetting either of these two top-tier juggernauts. Even when Villa scored early on, the comeback by Tottenham felt inevitable. And West Ham’s 5-0 defeat at the hands of the defending champions was a masterclass in precision and pressure. Things will be different here, as whoever gets the victory will certainly have a difficult time getting there.
Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur Prediction: Man City 2-1 Spurs
We do have to view the defending champions as the most likely winners here. And that’s less to do with Spurs’ weakness than it is with Manchester City’s strengths. This year alone, City have already won the League Cup and the FA Cup, alongside successfully defending their Premier League crown: something they are looking to do again for a third time this season. Spurs are good – very, very good – but right now, there is no team as consistently brilliant as Man City. Still, we are expecting a tough, tightly contested game, meaning our scoreline prediction is 2-1 to the home side.
Our recommended tip: Both teams score
Considering the quality of both of these teams and just how motivated we expect them to be, we don’t think either will come out of this with a clean sheet. Both understand just how much a victory like this could impact the rest of their season. The momentum alone has the potential to change the trajectory of a season. For that reason, our recommended tip for this game is for both teams to score at least one goal. BetFred are offering medium-risk 4/5 odds on this outcome, making this our recommended tip.
Previous matches
Of course, we can’t talk about this match without discussing the dramatic recent history between these two top teams. They had an absolute classic match in the Champions League. This resulted in the end to City’s quadruple dreams after Tottenham won on away goals following a VAR decision 17 minutes from time, which saw the aggregate score end 4-4. City got some revenge with a 1-0 win mere days later in the Premier League. In fact, if it weren’t for that Champions League win, Spurs wouldn’t have a victory in this fixture since 2016. City have the upper hand here, despite recent heartbreak.
Top 3 Premier League Bookies
Players to watch: Raheem Sterling & Harry Kane
After that performance against West Ham, we couldn’t really go with anyone else. Raheem Sterling was as relentless as he was skilled, with his efforts earning him a seriously impressive hat trick at the end of the night. Of course, this kind of quality is nothing unexpected from Sterling, who scored 17 goals last season. If he keeps going like this, he could easily dwarf that benchmark.
There’s plenty of amazing players in Tottenham Hotspur. They have proven time and time again that they are far more than a one player team. Nonetheless, sometimes – especially when coming up against a team of the calibre of City – you have to rely on your big guns. For Tottenham Hotspur, that man is Harry Kane. If there were any doubts their star striker means business, he silenced them with dual goals in four minutes against Aston Villa in the opening match of the season.
