Manchester City can move into outright first on the EPL table when they travel to North London to face Tottenham. We’ll have live scores and commentary from 6.45am AEDT.
Andros Townsend will again be missing with a hamstring injury. Erik Lamela is also an absentee for Tottenham’s huge Premier League clash with Manchester City at White Hart Lane.
Head coach Tim Sherwood has stated he believes England wide man Townsend is at least a week away from first team action.
Jan Vertonghen, Younes Kaboul and Sandro are back in training but remain doubts as the City game may be just too soon for them.
Meanwhile, Manchester City are boosted with the news that striker Álvaro Negredo (shoulder) is back in contention.
Playmaker David Silva is itching for a return after being rested last weekend against Watford as a precaution because of a small hamstring matter.
Midfielders James Milner (groin) and Javi Garcia are out of contention but are not thought to be side-lined for long, while ex-Arsenal player Samir Nasri (knee ligament) remains a long-term casualty.
Match Notes
When these teams met at City in November, the home side won 6-0 which saw the beginning of the end for manager Andre Villas-Boas who only lasted another four league games, including his dreadful swansong, a 5-0 home shellacking by Liverpool just before Christmas.
In the intervening time however not much has changed with City – they can’t stop scoring.
However, club captain and man-mountain Vincent Kompany cautioned yesterday, “Our weakness is our strength, like any other squad that are so dominant and so attacking.
“Complacency is our biggest enemy, it’s very simple. We have six or seven players thinking offensive, and that just means we have to be super-aggressive to recover the ball quickly.
“When we don’t have the ball, ultimately we’re not as good anymore, so I think a good strength is to know how you function. This is how we function, so there’s no excuses for us not to look to get the ball back very quickly.”
Yet Spurs have improved under new appointment Tim Sherwood. They are unbeaten in all six league games winning five, (they lost 2-0 to Arsenal in the FA Cup) with a rejuvenated Emmanuel Adebayor in good form at the moment.
Match Stats
Tottenham have triumphed in seven and lost just one of their last 10 Premier League home games versus City.
Something has to give as City’s unbeaten run in all competitions now stands at an impressive 19 games – of which they’ve won 17, scoring a mightily impressive 64 goals along the way.
Coincidentally the run started with that 6-0 dismantling of Spurs at the Etihad in November.
With Spurs looking good at home under Sherwood, Chelsea at the Etihad next Monday, then Barcelona and Chelsea in the FA Cup in February the next few weeks will provide us with proof of just how good Manuel Pellegrini’s team is – and whether the ‘Quadruple’ is a headline writer’s fantasy or something far more tangible.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
FULL TIME Spurs 1-5 City It's White Hart Pain for Spurs as City make it 11-1 on aggregate this term. City were well worth the win yet Spurs could legitimately claim the Dawson "goal", a contentious penalty and red card. Yet even with those incidents City were by far the best team for the entire game and as such thoroughly deserved their win. City go back to the top, Arsenal stay second with Chelsea third, having surprisingly drawn 0-0 at Stamford Bridge against West Ham United. Thanks for joining me as ever. Stay tuned to The Roar to see the next instalment of this hugely intriguing Premier League race. Cheers
Layth
Guest
89 mins GOAL 1-5 City A City corner sees the ball bounce to the feet of Dzeko, on the edge of the box. He fires a shot straight at Lloris, but Bentaleb gets in the way as the ball deflects to the right, where Kompany slots home.
Layth
Guest
86 mins GOAL 1-5 City
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
78 min GOAL! City 1-4 Jovetic Stevan Jovetic hits his first City goal. Fernandinho played a lovely raking pass to Jovetic on the left. Although he was running away from goal he cut inside and took a shot that took a large deflection and the ball bounces past Hart.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
72 min 1-3 City Dzeko shoots low from 25 yards. It's deflected but his shot is soft and easily stopped.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
69 mins 1-3 City Zabaleta pulls the ball back for Dzeko, but the striker chips over harmlessly. I must say Zabaleta is different class as ever. If there's a better player in his position in England please let me know. Tough, pacy, tactically aware with the heart of a warrior.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
68 mins 1-3 City City knocking it around with arrogance. The game appears to have dropped in intensity. How could it not after the first frantic two thirds of it?!
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
65 mins 1-3 City Dzeko should have scored there. Clichy, who has been getting abuse for being an ex Arsenal man whipped the ball to Dzeko's who took it down from his chest nicely. But then fires well over from 12 yards.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
64 mins 1-3 City Naughton is booked for a foul on Navas
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
63 mins 1-3 City Nastasic comes on for Toure. City's midfielder takes his time to walk off, which sees Adebayor lumber over to manhandle him off the pitch. Could have kicked off there but the players saw sense there and it all calmed down.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
61 mins 1-3 City Incidentally it looked like Fernandinho tried to stop Capoue's shot with his hands. If he had got a hand to it he would have been off surely. Think that sums up both teams night.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
59 mins 1-3 City The ball flies around the box after a corner in the box before Capoue, despite lying on his backside, fires a shot past Hart.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
59 mins 1-3 City GOAL Capoue
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
58 mins 0-3 City White Hart Lane is a very quiet place at the moment bar the 3,000 delirious City fans.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
57 mins 0-3 City Man City have now matched their Premier League goal total from 2012-13, with 15 matches remaining after tonight. Spurs to be fair are not crumbling yet.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
56 mins 0-3 City Edin Dzeko has now scored six goals in six appearances against Tottenham in the Premier League; more than against any other side
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
55 mins 0-3 City This is what I thought Sherwood should have done as soon as Rose was sent off. Kyle Naughton has come on for Sigurdsson now - you could argue five minutes too late.
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
53 mins 0-3 City It's all happening at White Hart Lane. Zabaleta overlapped down the left where Danny Rose used to be. He passes to Silva who moves past his man and fires a shot on to the post which Dzeko, six yards out, taps in. The Spurs players look crestfallen..
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
53 mins GOAL 0-3 City Dzeko
Layth Yousif
Roar Guru
52 mins 0-2 The crowd is furious as ten man Spurs need to concentrate. Should Sherwood be more proactive in putting on a defender for an attacker against such an attacking City side?