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Spurs logo
Premier League | Gameweek 9
Nov 21, 2020 at 5.30pm UK
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Manchester City logo

Spurs
2 - 0
Man City

Heung-min (5'), Lo Celso (65')
Sissoko (42'), Kane (90')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Dias (87'), Torres (88')

Combined XI: Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester City

Ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash between Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City, Sports Mole selects its strongest combined XI from the two squads.

Tottenham Hotspur welcome Manchester City to North London on Saturday afternoon for the latest showdown between old managerial rivals Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola.

Spurs boast a five-point lead over their visitors in the Premier League table and would temporarily move top simply by avoiding defeat to the Citizens.

However, Mourinho will no doubt be eyeing all three points for his in-form side, while Man City will know that anything other than victory for themselves would be another setback to their title chances following a distinctly average start to the season.

Here, Sports Mole selects its strongest combined XI from the two squads, using only players in contention to feature this weekend.



Combined XI: TOT vs. MNC

These two sides both possess the joint-best defensive record in the league, although their tallies of nine goals conceded - which is shared with three other clubs - is not exactly something to shout about.

Nonetheless, they both boast one of the best goalkeepers in the division, but it is last season's Golden Gloves winner Ederson who gets the nod for us ahead of Hugo Lloris.

Indeed, despite plenty of question marks being raised over their defence in recent times, Man City provide four of our back five in this XI, including a former Tottenham player in Kyle Walker.

With Matt Doherty unavailable due to COVID-19 it was a fairly straightforward decision at right-back, and the same is true on the opposite flank where Sergio Reguilon benefits from uncertainty over Benjamin Mendy and Oleksandr Zinchenko, and pips Joao Cancelo to left-back.

Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias have begun to forge a promising partnership at centre-back - perhaps even putting Man City's troubles in that area of the field behind them - and that earns them both places in this team ahead of Toby Alderweireld and Eric Dier.

Fernandinho remains a doubt for this weekend's match, which means that Rodri is the clear choice in a holding midfield role, although Tottenham duo Moussa Sissoko and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg have both impressed this season too.

The latter gets the nod alongside Rodri having helped dictate play as well as breaking it up for Tottenham this season, making more passes than any other player in the Premier League in 2020-21.

A star-studded front four means that some other big names also miss out, including the likes of Gabriel Jesus, Gareth Bale, Ferran Torres, Riyad Mahrez and Sergio Aguero, the latter of whom is doubtful for this match.

Raheem Sterling could also miss out this weekend after being sent home from England duty with a calf problem, although he is battling to recover in time and the possibility of him featuring is enough to earn him a place in the XI.

The winger is forced over to the right due to the fine form of Son Heung-min on the left, though, with the South Korean having directly contributed to 15 goals across all competitions already this season.

The only Premier League player who can better that tally is teammate Harry Kane, who has incredibly had a direct hand in 23 goals from just 14 outings this term. The duo have formed a telepathic relationship up front, with Kane already contributing eight Premier League assists in 2020-21, and they were both shoo-ins for this lineup.

Kevin De Bruyne also falls into the category of 'impossible to leave out', even if he is yet to hit the incredible heights he reached so consistently last season.


Video prediction

Watch the Sports Mole Football Shorts prediction for this game below:


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Kevin De Bruyne scores for Manchester City against Wolverhampton Wanderers on September 21, 2020
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Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


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