Manchester City Tottenham LIVE Football Score 05/02/2023

Manchester City Tottenham LIVE Football Score 05/02/2023

Just over two weeks on from playing out a six-goal thriller at the Etihad Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City renew hostilities in Sunday’s Premier League clash in North London. Both teams progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup last weekend, as Spurs eased past Preston North End 3-0, while the Citizens edged 14-time winners Arsenal 1-0.Thoughts will be spared for Antonio Conte this week, as the Tottenham boss cedes control of the reins to Cristian Stellini following an operation to remove his gallbladder, having experienced “severe abdominal pain” following last weekend’s FA Cup win over Preston.

Prior to returning to his native Italy to go under the knife, Conte – who could reportedly take up a seat in the director’s box for this game if he is well enough to travel – witnessed Son Heung-min net a brace alongside a debut goal for Arnaut Danjuma in a comfortable Deepdale success. Success in the cup followed a hard-earned Premier League triumph over London rivals Fulham – courtesy of Harry Kane’s record-equalling 266th Tottenham goal – but the Lilywhites are still playing catch-up in the Champions League race, currently sitting fifth and three points worse off than Newcastle United and Manchester United, both of whom have a game in hand.

Now seeking to win three successive matches on the bounce for the first time since October, Tottenham suffered defeat immediately after back-to-back wins in November and January, and home has not been where the heart is for the Lilywhites recently. Indeed, four of Spurs’ last five Premier League games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have ended in defeat – conceding at least twice in all of those fixtures – and Man City have recent when it comes to scoring multiple goals against their North London counterparts.Finally pitting their wits against the only team in the land to have out-performed them in the 2022-23 campaign.

Man City were nullified by Arsenal in the first half of their FA Cup fourth-round heavyweight tie, but Mikel Arteta would ultimately experience another miserable return to the Etihad. A sublime finish from Nathan Ake was enough to send Man City through to the fifth round at the Gunners’ expense, but the reigning Premier League champions still have plenty of work to do when it comes to usurping Arteta’s runaway leaders at the top of the table. Ending a minor goal drought the only way he knows how, Erling Braut Haaland’s fourth hat-trick of the season put Wolverhampton Wanderers to the sword 3-0 two weekends ago, but Guardiola’s men remain five points behind Arsenal – who have a game in hand – after the Gunners left it late to beat Manchester United.

A trio of home wins may have come Man City’s way, but the champions travel to North London having lost each of their last two away contests to Southampton and Manchester United, and Guardiola has remarkably lost all four of his previous visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – at no other ground does the Catalan coach have a worse record.

A seething Guardiola also tore into his players after their 4-2 win over Spurs in January – where Conte’s side got to half time with a 2-0 advantage before the Riyad Mahrez-inspired fightback – and Tottenham will even have the support of the red side of North London, for a couple of hours at most, in their bid to right the wrongs of the Etihad encounter.Tottenham have been handed a timely double injury boost ahead of Sunday’s game, as Richarlison has recovered from an adductor niggle, and Lucas Moura is also set to return from his troublesome tendon problem.

Pape Sarr remains doubtful with a hip issue, though, and Stellini could hand an immediate full debut to ex-Man City product Pedro Porro, whose move from Sporting Lisbon was confirmed on deadline day despite an initial collapse. Porro’s arrival triggered Djed Spence’s loan exit to Rennes and Matt Doherty’s contract termination, with the latter now on the books at Atletico Madrid after playing 71 minutes of the win over Preston. A fit-again Kane will be one of several first-teamers to return to the first XI here, as he goes in search of the strike which will bring up 200 Premier League goals and see him surpass Jimmy Greaves in Tottenham’s all-time scoring charts.

Full-back movements were also the theme at Man City late in the transfer window, as Joao Cancelo completed a surprise loan move to Bayern Munich, although he denied that a bust-up with Guardiola was to blame. Cancelo had lost his spot in the side to 18-year-old protege Rico Lewis anyway, and the teenager should earn another start after John Stones came off with a thigh injury in the FA Cup win over Arsenal, where Phil Foden missed out entirely due to a foot issue. Guardiola has now conceded that Stones will face between three weeks and a month on the sidelines, but Foden should be fit enough to return from his foot injury.

The infamous ‘Pep roulette’ may come into play as Bernardo Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Julian Alvarez all pine for recalls, while Mahrez will seek to build on a stellar record of seven goals and four assists against Spurs – against no other team has he registered as many contributions in the Premier League.Manchester City will be buoyed by Arsenal’s defeat to Everton on Saturday with a win over Tottenham taking them within two points of the Gunners.

Last month’s meeting between the pair saw City come back from 2-0 down at half-time to win 4-2. Pep Guardiola, though, was less than impressed with his team and sent a stark warning to improve their mentality as they try to catch up with Arsenal.

This time, Spurs could be without Antonio Conte who had an emergency operation to remove his gallbladder this week. Nevertheless, Guardiola will be expecting a tough test from Tottenham, who are trying to keep themselves within touching distance of the top four.The Blues will have to do without John Stones who has been ruled out through injury. As a result, Aymeric Laporte could start a second consecutive Premier League match with Manuel Akanji by his side.

Nathan Ake kept Bukayo Saka uncommonly quiet in the triumph over Arsenal and amid Joao Cancelo’s high-profile exit, he could be tasked with keeping Dejan Kulusevski, and perhaps later Arnaut Danjuma, muted at left-back on Sunday.Kyle Walker has struggled to get a look-in since Rico Lewis’ breakthrough but Guardiola may hand the right-back his first start since the clash with United so he can deal with the threat of Heung-min Son, who netted twice in Spurs’ 3-0 FA Cup win over Preston.

A midfield trio of Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan could form the midfield and quell the movement of Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. Riyad Mahrez produced a second-half masterclass in January’s 4-2 win and so will fancy his chances against Tottenham again.He grabbed two goals in the match and will likely be given the nod again this weekend. Phil Foden is back from an ankle knock but it would be surprising to see him start after missing the victories over Wolves and Arsenal. Therefore, Jack Grealish could be handed his 11th league start of the season with 31-goal Erling Haaland expected to make the cut.