Allen Hamilton
What: English Premier League
Who: Manchester City (4th; 62 points) vs Tottenham Hotspur (5th; 56 points)
When: Tuesday 10th May, 2011, at 19:45 UK time
Where: Eastlands, Manchester, England
Eyes on the FA Cup final?
This match arrives at a less than perfect time for Manchester City, with the FA Cup final against Stoke City coming next weekend. And while Roberto Mancini won’t want to allow Tottenham to come within three points of the Citizens with a win here, the Italian equally won’t want his players to have to over-exert themselves.
City are coming off the back of a disappointing loss at Everton; leading at half time, Mancini’s men conceded twice at Goodison Park in the second half to go down 2-1. Given that the contest was one City dominated, with Everton boss David Moyes conceding "we never laid a glove on them", the defeat should not be taken as a sign of poor form. Indeed, the Citizens are still in the box-seat in the race for a Champions League spot and even a draw here would realistically end Spurs’ hopes of overhauling them.
But it is that FA Cup final which is playing on Mancini’s mind. The opportunity to secure the first trophy of the Sheikh Mansour era is too good a chance to let slip and for the Italian, who has seen his position questioned at times, silverware to go with a Champions League spot would be concrete evidence of City’s progression on his watch. The question is, with Wembley in mind but Spurs to deal with first, will changes be made?
"I don’t think we will have a problem qualifying for the Champions League", said Mancini after the loss at Everton, "but Tuesday will now be a 100 per cent hard match."
Top Four Finish Looking Tough
Harry Redknapp saw his side draw 1-1 at home to Blackpool on Saturday and instantly conceded that catching City and making the top four looks a challenging task indeed. "It’s going to be very difficult, obviously", said the Spurs boss. "We haven’t been able to win games in the last month or so."
Spurs looked to have every chance of battling City for a Champions League spot at the start of April, but as Redknapp has identified, a prolonged spell without a win has caused the London side serious difficulties. Since beating Stoke 3-2 on 9th April, Spurs have failed to win any of their following five games, seeing themselves dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid, draw with Arsenal and lose away to Chelsea in amongst disappointing draws with Blackpool and West Brom.
Another draw here would realistically end Spurs’ hopes of catching City seeing as a six-point gap with two games to play would be insurmountable given a vast goal difference not in favour of Redknapp’s side. Attack therefore is the only option on the table and the Spurs boss hopes his side will be more ruthless than in their previous few games.
"We’ve struggled of late to score goals and we’ve not been able to kill teams off", commented Redknapp. "We’ve had a few games where we’ve had lots of the play, passed the ball great but not managed to beat teams because we’ve not taken the opportunities we’ve created."
Recent form
Manchester City:
Blackburn 0-1 Manchester City
(25/04; Premier League)
Manchester City 2-1 West Ham
(01/05; Premier League)
Everton 2-1 Manchester City
(07/05; Premier League
Tottenham Hotspur:
Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 West Brom (23/04; Premier League)
Chelsea 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur (30/04; Premier League)
Tottenham Hotspur 1-1 Blackpool (07/05; Premier League)
Key absences
Manchester City: Carlos Tevez; Jerome Boateng; Micah Richards (doubt); Shay Given
Tottenham Hotspur: Tom Huddlestone (doubt); Benoit Assou-Ekotto (doubt); Alan Hutton; Ledley King; Jonathan Woodgate; Wilson Palacios
Players to watch
Manchester City – David Silva: Reported as homesick and pining for a move back to Spain, the former Valencia man has gone some way to rubbishing the reports with his performances. Good on the ball, calm in possession and more than able to pick a pass, Silva can dictate the tempo of this game and also open up Spurs when the match becomes stretched.
Tottenham Hotspur – Peter Crouch: The former Liverpool striker failed to start at the weekend against Blackpool so will be raring to go for this one. Crouch is determined that his old Liverpool team-mates should at least not pip Spurs for fifth if indeed the London side’s Champions League bid fails. Always a handful for defenders, Crouch can fire Tottenham to victory.
Match Prediction
There is no doubt City will have more than one eye on the FA Cup final and there is also a sense at Eastlands that a Champions League spot is all but secure. This attitude could allow Spurs, who have little to lose, to gain a foothold in the game, but City’s form is such that this could quickly turn. A feisty match with Spurs frantically bombing forward. Nevertheless, a scoring draw looks a high possibility. Manchester City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur.
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