Defending Premier League champions Manchester City will lock horns with Tottenham Hotspur at the City of Manchester Stadium on Thursday. This game should have been played on September 10th but was postponed because of Queen Elizabeth II’s death. Many have changed since the fall beginning, so who is favoring this contest now?
The two sides come to this match in a very shaky form, losing too much in the last games. One can be said confidently: the matches of World Cup 2022 played against them as January 2023 results, and overall performances are pretty poor. Thus, Man City seems to struggle in the title race against an astonishing Arsenal. The visitors have even tinier plans: Tottenham seems to be pleased with a Champions League place at the end of the tough contest against Liverpool, Chelsea, and Newcastle.
| Tournament: | English Premier League, season 2022-23, Matchday 7 (postponed from September 10th) |
| Venue: | City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester, England |
| Date: | Thursday, 19th January 2023, 8:00 PM GMT |
Despite the struggling performances of both sides, the hosts come to this game as strong favorites, according to bookmakers. The odds for Man City to win are at 1.38 (4/11), with Tottenham being placed at a huge 7.8 (7/1). The draw is valued by bookies at 5.4 (9/2), with all this looking a bit overestimated by sportsbooks in favor of MC.
Many sportsIn-play modeLive streaming25+ sportsSuperb bonusesEasy to useVIP programLive gamesMany bonusesMany bonuses24/7 supportMobile appsLive bettingMany sportsFast payoutsThe hosting side coming to this game in a disgusting form according to their own standards. They lost two last games: a Manchester derby to MU 2:1 and two-to-nil EFL Cup games to Southampton. With the two victories in a row over even more suffering Chelsea before that (4:0 and 0:1), the Citizens looked pretty poor in the January games.
The summer signings of the Sky Blues also show an unimpressive game. While Haaland had a rest during the WC 2022, his performance in 2023 is far from his autumn form: zero goals in 4 matches played. Akanji, who has a stable place in the starting squad because of the injuries of Dias and Stones, made resulting mistakes in the last games. Now it’s quite hard to predict how long the shaky form of Guardiola’s guys will last.
The wards of Antonio Conte are in a similar situation right now. They lost two of their four encounters in 2023: 2:0 to Arsenal in the North London derby and to Aston Villa at home. Their victories came from FA Cup games against Portsmouth (1:0) and Crystal Palace (0:4) – not the toughest opponents.
With no significant injuries in the squad, the Spurs cannot find a balance in the game. Thus, they can be impressively good, like against Arsenal at the beginning of the second half, but a poor start can make the difference and complicate the task.
With Manchester City’s odds to dominate against any opponent in England since the arrival of Pep Guardiola, the Spurs are one of the most difficult opponents to the Citizens. Apart from the unlucky loss in the Champions League semifinal in 2019, they lost three games out of the last five. We also should admit the advantage of the hosting side in the clashes between those teams.
Manchester City FC: LLWWD
Tottenham Hotspur FC: LWWLD
While the latest games weren’t the best for both in terms of attacking games, neither has serious losses in the offense. Haaland, De Bruyne, Mahrez, and Foden are ready to deliver for the hosts, while Kane can get the support of Son, Kulusevski, and Perisic. It looks like MC and Spurs just need some time to find out their season-start form and why it should not be this clash.
Also, with two of the world’s best managers locking horns in this game who prefer wins, neither of the two sides is expected to settle for a draw. Moreover, the defensive sides of Man City and Tottenham aren’t perfect now, which should guarantee plenty of chances for the offense. Hence, this will be an end-to-end contest, and we might see multiple goals here.
Bookmakers are tipping 7.8 (7/1) as the odds for Tottenham to beat Man City. These are very valuable odds, even though the Citizens are a huge favorite according to bookmakers. Guardiola has already lost to Conte thrice before, and hence it isn’t a bad bet to back the latter to win this contest again.
While the previous prediction looked quite lucrative in terms of odds, here we go with an even more massive one. This is a contest between two quality teams and very shrewd managers. There are a lot of tactics that are going to come into play in this encounter from both sides, but as far as the Man City vs Tottenham predictions from the soccer bookies go, they are backing Tottenham to win 1-2. Conte’s record against Guardiola and his astute defensive technique will play a big role in this match. Guardiola, instead, might not be ready to counter it with the team that is lucking their best physical shape.
Man City’s absences for the upcoming clash are all about defense. Thus, the hamstring will prevent Dias from participating in the game, while Stones is also unlikely to enter the pitch with a lack of fitness. Also, we should mention Benjamin Mendy, who is still under arrest but received positive news after the last court hearing and probably will receive permission to play soon.
For the Spurs, the main problem will be the absence of Bentancur, who is still unavailable because of a groin injury. Lucas Moura isn’t new on this list, as couldn’t play even in the September game because of a tendon injury, which is still the issue.
Most English Premier League games throw up surprises from time to time, especially when two ‘top 6’ teams are involved. Still, we think that the Man City vs Tottenham odds mentioned above will be pretty attractive for punters, more so for people who like to predict the correct scores.
