Manchester City vs. Tottenham – England Premier League Match Preview, Etihad Stadium Manchester, England, 9:30 AM EST Sunday November 11, 2012
By Jason Green of Predictem.com
Match Odds: Manchester City 1.57 / Tottenham 6.00 / Draw 4.00
Moneyline: Manchester City -175 / Arsenal +500 / Draw +300
Over/Under: 2.5 goals
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Manchester City has played to a couple of draws in their last matches, but they are still in 3rd place in the England Premier League only 2 points behind Manchester United. On the other side of the coin Tottenham has fallen down in the league table with their loss, which was a shocking one at home to Wigan. Still, the Spurs are in 6th place in the league table 7 points behind Man U.
Unlike last season Manchester City is led by their defense this season, as they have conceded the 2nd fewest goals in the EPL. While the Spurs scored 3 goals in their last match it was a Europa League match facing NK Maribor from Slovenia and in their previous 4 matches they had only scored more than 1 goal once and they were shut out in their last EPL match.
City is still in the heart of the EPL race, but they have issues and last season at this stage they had scored 36 goals and this season they have 18. The defense has also been an issue with Vincent Kompany well before form so far this season.
In an interesting stat since the1992-93 Tottenham have 9 wins at Man City, which is just behind Chelsea and Arsenal with 10 each.
City has struggled in the defense near the midfield and they have to play well in that area in this match facing the Spurs; attacking midfielder Clint Dempsey, who has 2 goals on the season.
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Gareth Bale and Jermain Defoe have combined for 8 goals on the season and this duo along with Dempsey are the players that City really has to key on. While the Spurs will not pour on the goals one of these 3 will score in this match.
Carlos Tevez and super sub Edin Dzeko have combined for 9 goals and the longer that City goes scoreless in the first half the more likely that Dzeko will come in early. These guys are hard to stop and the Spurs’ defense will have their hands full.
City is a very physical team and they have to be careful playing like that near their goal. They have given up the most goals in the England Premier League this season off set pieces. Ex City player and current Tottenham player Emmanuel Adebayor is solid in the air and he may really hurt his old team.
Tottenham G Brad Friedel has an up and down season, but he has not had a clean sheet in his last 6 matches. That will continue in this match, as Man City will score at least 2 goals.
In their last 10 matches both Tottenham and Manchester City have an Over/Under 2.5 goal record of 5-5.
Last season Manchester City won both matches against the Spurs including a 5-1 crushing at Tottenham.
Manchester City Recent Form:
10/20/2012 West Bromwich 1 Manchester City 2 (Premier League)
10/24/2012 Ajax 3 Manchester City 1 (Champions League)
10/27/2012 Manchester City 1 Swansea City 0 (Premier League)
11/3/2012 West Ham 0 Manchester City 0 (Premier League)
11/6/2012 Manchester City 2 Ajax Amsterdam 2 (Champions League)
Tottenham Recent Form:
10/25/2012 NK Maribor 1 Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Europa League)
10/28/2012 Southampton 1 Tottenham Hotspur 2 (Premier League)
10/31/2012 Norwich City 2 Tottenham Hotspur 1 (Capital One Cup)
11/3/2012 Tottenham Hotspur 0 Wigan Athletic 1 (Premier League)
11/8/2012 Tottenham Hotspur 3 NK Maribor 1 (Europa League)
Jason’s Pick to Win: Last season Manchester City scored 8 goals on Tottenham in their 2 matches, but I do not see this match being a high scoring one. City’s offense is just not the dynamic one that it was last season and they will lean on their defense more in this match. Because of that the key in this match will be in the midfield and while the Spurs are solid in that area of the field I think City will still win this match by a score of 2-1.