Prediction: Manchester City vs Tottenham

The hard-fought victory at Villa Park saw Manchester City climb to second in the Premier League standings, but the reigning champions need to continue the good run against Tottenham if they are to remain close to leaders Chelsea. Spurs finally ended a winless streak by defeating Southampton at the Lane, although they still face an uphill task at the Etihad.

With quite a few key players taking part at the 2014 World Cup, Manuel Pellegrini’s charges were always going to face a tough task in the opening exchanges, but they seem to have dropped more points than they should have in the first seven league fixtures. Difficult fixture list was also to blame for the slow start to the new campaign, although the Citizens did well to defeat Liverpool at home as well as earn draws from losing positions against Arsenal and Chelsea. Comfortable triumphs over Hull City and Aston Villa in addition to the 7-0 hammering of Sheffield Wednesday in the Capital One Cup are enough to suggest the team are slowly getting back to their best, and Manuel Pellegrini will be hoping the recent international break does not have a detrimental effect on his players. The Chilean will probably be forced to omit Yaya Toure given that the Ivorian is not expected back until Friday, but given his form and the performances of Frank Lampard, that should not be seen as a major issue. Martin Demichelis will be recalled to the starting line-up as Eliaquim Mangala misses out through a thigh injury, while Sergio Aguero should be in pretty good shape having spent just an hour on the pitch while on international duty.

After Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood failed to get the maximum out of an expensively assembled squad, Mauricio Pochettino was selected as the man to try and help Spurs finally return to the Champions League. Few more players were signed in the summer, while several fringe footballers were allowed to leave, but there has been little improvement at White Hart Lane. Tottenham are clearly capable of playing attractive attacking football on their day, but having struggled for consistency so far, it looks as though a top 4 finish will remain just a dream for yet another season. Spurs were soundly beaten by Liverpool at home in the first high-profile match of the season, before they somehow managed to avoid defeat in the North London derby despite being outclassed by their arch rivals. And despite ending a four-match winless run in the league with the narrow triumph over Southampton, I just cannot see Spurs matching Manchester City on Saturday, especially with several important players battling injury at the moment. Hugo Lloris, Nacer Chadli, Emmanuel Adebayor and Nabil Bentaleb all face fitness tests, whilst Kyle Naughton is definitely out.

Conclusion

Manchester City have a knack of winning these kinds of matches without too many problems and no doubts they are in much better shape than the opposition. Tottenham, on the other hand, have little to hope for at the moment, with 6-0 loss in the same fixture last term still fresh in their minds.

Verdict: Home win Manchester City (1)

Best Odds: 1/2

Bookmaker: William Hill