Tottenham Hotspur head to Manchester City on Sunday for an intriguing Premier League encounter against the high-flying treble winners.
Even if Spurs had a full-strength team, they’d likely not be favourites against a Citizens outfit that have only lost only one of their last 48 home games in all competitions.
However, Tottenham are in the midst of an injury crisis at present, which has contributed to them losing their last three matches in a row.
Spurs boss Ange Postecoglou has moulded his team into an exciting attacking outfit, which worked very well in the opening months of the campaign.
However, with such a depleted outfit, there have been calls for the Tottenham boss to play more defensively against the juggernauts of Man City.
‘Before you know it you are 3-0 down’
This is what Ray Parlour suggested on talkSPORT, but fellow pundit – and Spurs fan – Jamie O’Hara wasn’t having any of it.
“Ange has been really good on the front foot but I don’t think he can do that at City,” said Parlour.
“Will he sit back and just say we are going to have to try and soak up the pressure and maybe get a chance with Son or whoever?
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“I don’t think you can go out like you have been doing and attack, attack, attack because we know City with the players they have got will just pick you off and before you know it you are 3-0 down.”
O’Hara believes Postecoglou will stick to his guns, admitting he’d rather Spurs lose 3-1 but put up a fight than just sitting back and trying to nick a point.
Jamie O’Hara adamant Tottenham will play attacking football against Manchester City
“He ain’t going to change mate. I’m telling you now,” he said. “There’s no way we are just going to sit in and try and hit teams in the break. That’s not his style. He has been pretty adamant about it.
“Do I think that is right? I’m not sure. This isn’t Scotland. He’s not playing against St. Mirren and some bad teams where you can roll them over with 10 men and just play gung-ho football.
“This is the Premier League and you do have to be a bit more cute with how you set your teams up and be a bit more adaptable but he has come out and been adamant and said we are playing this way.
“And you know what, we had chances against Chelsea and lost, we had chances against Aston Villa and ended up losing but if you take those chances we win those games.
“It’s fine margins at the moment but the Premier League is fine margins, all the teams are fine margins.
“I’d rather us get beaten 3-1 at Man City and we have chances than just sitting in and trying to nick a point because we have done that in the past.”
Manchester City v Tottenham: TBR Prediction
Tottenham have a host of players out through either injury or suspension.
James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Matar Sarr and Richarlison are recovering from injury, while Sergio Romero will serve the last match of his three-game ban.
Tottenham played admirably well against Chelsea, where things fell apart in real time during the match. This time, Spurs will have been able to prepare for this, so it’ll be interesting to see how they fare.
On paper, you’d expect a heavy City win. However, you can’t help but feel that Postecoglou will have some sort of ace up his sleeve. I think it’ll be closer than people imagine. Let’s go with City 2-1 Spurs.