How Will Tottenham Line Up Against Manchester City?

Tottenham’s brief hot streak ended after three wins in all competitions with Wednesday’s loss to Arsenal in the Capital One Cup. Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping his boys can make a return to form as they host Manchester City midday Saturday.

In truth, Wednesday’s loss shouldn’t be mourned too much. It’s one less competition for Tottenham to worry about and it came due in no small part to players that do not regularly feature in the team’s starting XI. Michel Vorm, Federico Fazio and Tom Carroll should not expect first team opportunities anytime soon.

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Saturday Tottenham should field an almost wholly revamped defense as the one that played against Arsenal. The only likely returning defensively-minded player is Eric Dier, who will hopefully continue his excellent turn as Tottenham’s long-overdue, much needed defensive midfielder.

The problem there is that Dier has featured in literally every competitive game Tottenham have played so far this season, which means that Saturday would mark his fifth game in less than two weeks. Even for a seemingly inexhaustible 21-year-old like Dier, that might be a lot to ask. Seeing as how Dier is right now Tottenham’s best – or only – pick in his position, you would think the club would be more mindful about the miles he’s putting into his legs.

And even more miles will be run if he features against Manchester City. Saturday might mark the debut of the vaunted quartet City have spent over ‎£150 million assembling. Sergio Agüero, David Silva, Raheem Sterling and Kevin De Bruyne could all feature from the start, together on the same pitch. The presence of those four players alone make this the more formidable offense Tottenham will have faced so far this season, and we haven’t even mentioned Yaya Touré.

Tottenham - Tottenham v Manchester City - 26th September 2015 - Football tactics and formations /

And so we have a lineup that is nearly identical to the one that faced off against Crystal Palace last Sunday. The notable exception here being the presence of Christian Eriksen. The Danish playmaker’s return to the lineup is beyond welcome – the team have at times struggled to play with as much incision or cohesion as they did prior to Eriksen’s knee injury. He will feature alongside a likely pretty fluid attacking midfield trio that also includes Heung-Min Son and Érik Lamela.

Eriksen’s natural tendency to drift left will mean there’s more space up the middle for Son to work behind Harry Kane. We can also expect some runs forward from Dele Alli from his nominal central midfield role, along with an attempt to overload the center of the pitch by Lamela. The Argentine’s game has improved of late, though it still heavily relies on him moving narrow and deep, which should leave space for Kyle Walker’s runs forward.

That is of course assuming Walker has a chance to do so. He and the entire backline will likely have their hands full containing City’s laughably top-loaded attack. It would not be a stretch to assume that Tottenham’s three consecutive Premier League clean sheets will come to an end, especially considering Agüero’s knack for scoring against the club.

City’s loss to Juventus and West Ham last week proves, finally, that Manuel Pellegrini’s side can be broken. Tottenham can capitalize on the fact that City will be desperate to get back to winning ways if they sit back and rely more on a transitional, counter-attacking game. City might be expecting that, but with an attacking lineup such as their’s, they don’t have many options beyond pressing their advantage on the opening whistle. Tottenham will be hoping they can add to the impression that City’s mentality borders on hubris.

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