Premier League Predictions: City to hand tough start to NES of Spurs?

All eyes will be on Jack Grealish as City take on Spurs at the Tottenham Stadium on Sunday. (Photo credit: Sky Sports)

Tottenham vs Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
4:30pm

New season, new hopes and new aspirations, the champions away to a team struggling for identity under a new manager, the will to start strong and the confidence to carry on walking hand in hand, Manchester City away at Spurs offers everything the fans missed for so long.

The home fans will see their team play for the first time in since Covid took the world by storm and despite a handful being able to see the game at the tail end of last season, including the league cup final loss to same team, here’s an opportunity for them to raise the roof for their beloved team.

Nuno Espirito Santo swapped the Molineaux for the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in the summer and he will oversee his first ever competitive game for Spurs against the best team in the league; how will he set up his team?

City will also look to do what they did not so far away, retaining the premier league and fend off contenders like European champions Chelsea, early league leaders Manchester United and Liverpool, how they start here matters a lot.

There are fitness concerns for the visitors, Kevin De Bruyne is certainly ruled out of this one, the line up that lost the Shield match to Leicester didn’t convince anyone but they will tell you it’s just pre-season but a strong start is always preferred to chasing.

There however will be a topic that will resonate across fans in this particular fixture, the Harry Kane future! Spurs insist they don’t want to sell, City are prepared to launch an onslaught but the outcome of this game will determine a lot.

What is Spurs’ ambition? They probably want to be better than what they achieved last season, they once finished as high as third, that was the Leicester season and they have huffed and puffed since then, earning the “pressure team” tag.

We expect Harry Kane to play some part in this game, his fitness is a huge concern but without Gareth Bale who returned to his parent club already, the likes of Lucas Moura and Heung Min Son will be expected to stand up and be counted.

City will rely on their creative force, Jack Grealish will also be available to prove why City spent so much on him, Sterling and Mahrez are expected to complete the front three but Pep Guardiola is full of surprises.

Recent results encourage Spurs to dream, back to back wins over the Cityzens in 2 of the last four meeting will help the hosts to hope for a repeat but City won the last two of the said four.