Tottenham v Manchester City Preview – Champions League 09/04/2019 Updated for September 2024

Updated: 18th September 2024

UEFA Champions League preview – Round of 8 – 1st leg: Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City – Tuesday, 9 April, 2019 – New Tottenham stadium – 20:00 hrs GMT

Tottenham v Manchester City Predictions

Tottenham v Manchester City Preview

Premier League Champions Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur will clash in an all-England UEFA Champions League quarter-final affair. This is the second year in succession that Pep Guardiola's City will be running into English opposition at this stage of their European outing. City were knocked out by Liverpool with an aggregate of 1-5 in the Round of 8 last time around.

Although a gulf of 18 points separate the two on the Premier League table, Tuesday night's affair could be much tighter than one would expect.

Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs are now bereft of the injury issues that seriously plagued them a fortnight ago and are now back to full strength.

The North London club are also back to playing at home in their spanking new stadium, having spent as hosts at the Wembley stadium for over a year. The New Tottenham stadium has proved lucky for Pochettino with Spurs breaking their 5-match run of winless fixtures with a convincing 2-0 over Crystal Palace in the opening game at the venue on April 3rd.

City are locked in a game of musical chairs for the 1st and 2nd spots of the Premier League with Liverpool and have continued in the same vein as they did in the 2018-19 season.

Guardiola's men are in stupendous form unlike their forthcoming opponents, winning 10 of their 11 Premier League games in 2019 so far.

Argentine striker Sergio Aguero has accumulated an astonishing tally of 29 goals this season, followed by Raheem Sterling at a distant 19.

Leroy Sane, Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva all have chalked up individual tallies in double digits, suggesting a team in stupendous goal-scoring form.

The Citizens are on a high having reached the FA Cup final by beating Brighton 1-0 on Saturday, although they were far below their dominant best. Gabriel Jesus who scored City's lone goal could make way for the prolific Aguero in the starting XI for Tuesday night's Champion League clash, the mercurial Argentine scorer having been rested in the Brighton game. Right-back John Stones who featured for just the final 11 minutes of the Brighton match has just recovered from a groin injury and may not start in the London clash. There's no word on centre-back Vincent Kompany though.

Guardiola will go for a starting line-up that could look like this:

Ederson (goal); Walker, Laporte, Otamendi, Danilo, Gundogan, Fernandinho, De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Sterling, Aguero.

Harry Kane and the in the in-form Son Heung-min with 24 and 17 goals respectively in the 2018-19 season will look to add to their tally against City and will bolstered by the return of the brilliant Del Alli from a prolonged injury hiatus. Which means fans will get to see the Fab front four of Kane, Son, Alli and Christian Eriksen playing in unison after a long time. Spurs' only current injury concern is Harry Winks, though he should be back from a hip problem by the end of March.

Tottenham predicted XI:

Lloris (goal), Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Sissoko, Dier, Alli, Davies, Son, Eriksen, Kane

Tuesday night's affair could be a cagey but one in which where the visitors look likely to get that vital away goal. Predicted score-line: 1-1.

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