Just over two weeks on from playing out a six-goal thriller at the Etihad Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City renew hostilities in Sunday's Premier League clash in North London.
Both teams progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup last weekend, as Spurs eased past Preston North End 3-0, while the Citizens edged 14-time winners Arsenal 1-0.
Match preview
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Thoughts will be spared for Antonio Conte this week, as the Tottenham boss cedes control of the reins to Cristian Stellini following an operation to remove his gallbladder, having experienced "severe abdominal pain" following last weekend's FA Cup win over Preston.
Prior to returning to his native Italy to go under the knife, Conte - who could reportedly take up a seat in the director's box for this game if he is well enough to travel - witnessed Son Heung-min net a brace alongside a debut goal for Arnaut Danjuma in a comfortable Deepdale success.
Success in the cup followed a hard-earned Premier League triumph over London rivals Fulham - courtesy of Harry Kane's record-equalling 266th Tottenham goal - but the Lilywhites are still playing catch-up in the Champions League race, currently sitting fifth and three points worse off than Newcastle United and Manchester United, both of whom have a game in hand.
Now seeking to win three successive matches on the bounce for the first time since October, Tottenham suffered defeat immediately after back-to-back wins in November and January, and home has not been where the heart is for the Lilywhites recently.
Indeed, four of Spurs' last five Premier League games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have ended in defeat - conceding at least twice in all of those fixtures - and Man City have recent when it comes to scoring multiple goals against their North London counterparts.
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Finally pitting their wits against the only team in the land to have out-performed them in the 2022-23 campaign, Man City were nullified by Arsenal in the first half of their FA Cup fourth-round heavyweight tie, but Mikel Arteta would ultimately experience another miserable return to the Etihad.
A sublime finish from Nathan Ake was enough to send Man City through to the fifth round at the Gunners' expense, but the reigning Premier League champions still have plenty of work to do when it comes to usurping Arteta's runaway leaders at the top of the table.
Ending a minor goal drought the only way he knows how, Erling Braut Haaland's fourth hat-trick of the season put Wolverhampton Wanderers to the sword 3-0 two weekends ago, but Guardiola's men remain five points behind Arsenal - who have a game in hand - after the Gunners left it late to beat Manchester United.
A trio of home wins may have come Man City's way, but the champions travel to North London having lost each of their last two away contests to Southampton and Manchester United, and Guardiola has remarkably lost all four of his previous visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium - at no other ground does the Catalan coach have a worse record.
A seething Guardiola also tore into his players after their 4-2 win over Spurs in January - where Conte's side got to half time with a 2-0 advantage before the Riyad Mahrez-inspired fightback - and Tottenham will even have the support of the red side of North London, for a couple of hours at most, in their bid to right the wrongs of the Etihad encounter.
Team News
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Tottenham have been handed a timely double injury boost ahead of Sunday's game, as Richarlison has recovered from an adductor niggle, and Lucas Moura is also set to return from his troublesome tendon problem.
Pape Sarr remains doubtful with a hip issue, though, and Stellini could hand an immediate full debut to ex-Man City product Pedro Porro, whose move from Sporting Lisbon was confirmed on deadline day despite an initial collapse.
Porro's arrival triggered Djed Spence's loan exit to Rennes and Matt Doherty's contract termination, with the latter now on the books at Atletico Madrid after playing 71 minutes of the win over Preston.
A fit-again Kane will be one of several first-teamers to return to the first XI here, as he goes in search of the strike which will bring up 200 Premier League goals and see him surpass Jimmy Greaves in Tottenham's all-time scoring charts.
Full-back movements were also the theme at Man City late in the transfer window, as Joao Cancelo completed a surprise loan move to Bayern Munich, although he denied that a bust-up with Guardiola was to blame.
Cancelo had lost his spot in the side to 18-year-old protege Rico Lewis anyway, and the teenager should earn another start after John Stones came off with a thigh injury in the FA Cup win over Arsenal, where Phil Foden missed out entirely due to a foot issue.
Guardiola has now conceded that Stones will face between three weeks and a month on the sidelines, but Foden should be fit enough to return from his foot injury.
The infamous 'Pep roulette' may come into play as Bernardo Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Julian Alvarez all pine for recalls, while Mahrez will seek to build on a stellar record of seven goals and four assists against Spurs - against no other team has he registered as many contributions in the Premier League.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Porro, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Lewis, Akanji, Laporte, Ake; Gundogan, Rodri, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish
We say: Tottenham Hotspur 1-2 Manchester City
It would not be a shock to witness another glut of goals between Tottenham and Man City here, with the Lilywhites frequently shipping goals at home, but the champions have not covered themselves in glory on rival turf either.
There is something not quite right with Guardiola's previously free-flowing side this season, but they defended with vigour against Arsenal, and it is always difficult to predict which version of Tottenham will show up, so we still expect the champions to prevail by a narrow margin.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
