Overview
Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur both had a perfect start in the Premier League and will aim to extend their winning streak.
Pep Guardiola's Man City temporarily took the top spot after the opening round thanks to a 4-0 victory over Wolves. Tottenham also showed their sublimation when defeating Burnley 3-0 at home.
Man City's recent form has been particularly impressive. They have the most points in the league (26) and are the only team unbeaten since April (W8 D2). The defense is certainly the foundation, as The Citizens have kept a clean sheet in 7 matches and only faced an average of 7.6 shots per match.
However, Guardiola still has to be cautious. Tottenham are one of his toughest opponents. The Spaniard has lost to Spurs nine times in his career, only behind the defeat to Liverpool (10). Last season, Man City fell to Tottenham in both the Premier League (04) and the League Cup (1-2).
The "Roosters" are one of three teams Guardiola has often faced but have won no more than half (11/23, 48%), along with Liverpool (6/24, 25%) and Real Madrid (13/27, 48%).
However, the Spanish captain has reason to be optimistic about the "fireworks" Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker just scored a double against Wolves and is approaching the historic milestone.
Haaland could become the second player to score 50 goals at home in less than 50 Premier League games (now 48 goals in 48 games).
On the other side, Thomas Frank had a promising start with Tottenham. After an emotional European Super Cup match with PSG, Spurs convincingly defeated Burnley 3-0.
They will aim to win both of their opening two Premier League games for the first time since 2021-22, despite a run of 11 recent games against non-rookie teams that have yet to win (2 draws, 2 losses).
Frank made a splash when he helped Brentford beat Man City 2-1 at the Etihad in November 2022. In history, only Mourinho and Conte have beaten Guardiola away from home for two different sides. And Frank has the opportunity to join this special list.
Statistics show that this match will be a feast of goals. The last 4 confrontations between the two teams in Manchester have witnessed 21 goals (Man City 9, Spurs 12), and Tottenham have scored at least 2 goals in each match.
No away team has held that record for five consecutive games against Man City since Sunderland in the 1980s 2,000 period. However, with Richarlison's form (2 goals in the opening round), Spurs have reason to believe in surprises.
Head-to-head record
Man City have won just four of their last 12 Premier League meetings with Tottenham (D2 L6). However, they just had a 1-0 victory in their last meeting in February.
Guardiola's side have not won consecutively against Spurs since a run of four consecutive games between December 2017 and April 2019.
On the other hand, Tottenham are gradually turning the Etihad into their favorite stadium. They have won 2 of their last 4 away trips here (D1 L1) - more than their entire record in the previous 11 away trips combined (D2 L8).
With an impressive 4-0 victory last season, Spurs are facing the opportunity for the first time in 15 years of 2 consecutive victories at Man City. This is the achievement they last achieved in May 2010.
Predicting the result
Despite Tottenham's frequent tricky times at the Etihad, the Opta supercomputer still has faith in the home team. Guardiola's side have a 61.7% chance of winning all three points.
Meanwhile, Spurs have only an 18.7% chance of winning, while the scenario of sharing points accounts for 19.6%.
Score prediction: Man City 2-2 Tottenham
Expected lineup:
Man City: James Trafford, Rico Lewis, John Stones, Ruben Dias, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Nico Gonzalez, Tijjani Reijnders, Bernardo Silva, Oscar Bobb, Jeremy Doku, Erling Haaland.
Tottenham: Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Cristian Romero, Micky van de Ven, Djed Spence, Archie Gray, Pape Sarr, Lucas Bergvall, Mohammed Kudus, Brennan Johnson, Richarlison.
The match between Man City and Tottenham takes place at 6:30 p.m. on August 23 (Vietnam time).
