Manchester City vs. Tottenham Hotspur – Match Preview
Venue and Timings
The match kicks off at the City of Manchester Stadium on Sunday, November 11th, 2012 at 1500 hours BST (2000 hours PST and 2030 hours IST).
Team News
Manchester City
David Silva will remain sidelined for this match due to his hamstring injury. It was ecpected that he would miss out only a few games but he has missed 5 games since then and without him, City have won only two.
Maicon was on bench when City played their Champions league match but he is less likely to play here considering how easily Gareth Bale took over him while he was at Inter.
Rodwell and Richards will remain out but Milner and Lescott could return.
Tottenham Hotspur
With Mousa Dembele, Sandro, Livermore and Parker injured, AVB will be dealing with a midfielders’ injury crisis. Though Sandro and Livermore are doubtful, their chances are less to feature.
Gylfi Sigurdson and Tom Huddlestone will be replacing Sandro and Livermore if they do not play.
Despite the Spurs fans’ urges to bring back Adebayor, Defoe will play upfront. Due to a number of injuries, Adebayor is far away from a return.
Recent Meetings
Manchester City 3 – 2 Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur 1 – 5 Manchester City
Manchester City 1 – 0 Tottenham Hotspur
Tottenham Hotspur 0 – 0 Manchester City
Manchester City 0 – 1 Tottenham Hotspur
Star Man
Yaya Toure (Manchester City) : Yaya Toure is no doubt one of the biggest assets that City possess. With his key passing, he is a threat to any defender as he picks up empty slots to create lethal passes. His direct shots across the yard are almost unstoppable for any keeper in the entire Premier League. Toure does not like to dive a lot and is a clean player.
Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur) : This deep-lying game maker is perhaps one of Spurs’ smartest players. He likes to cut inside and cross which makes him almost unstoppable as the man enters the boc. Though he plays on the left, he is versatile enough to play as an attacking mid, a midfielder and defender. His dribbling skills are very strong.
My prediction: 2 – 1 to Manchester City. Considering Tottenham’s midfield crisis, it will be very easy for City to exploit it and secure victory for themselves at home. For Spurs, it will be one hard fixture with most of the pressure on Bale and Defoe.
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