Five keys to Tottenham Hotspur beating Manchester City in EPL opener

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Tottenham Hotspur’s Argentinian midfielder Giovani Lo Celso (C) puts the ball past Manchester City’s Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson (R) to score on November 21, 2020. (Photo by KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH/POOL/AFP via Getty Images) /

While most will expect Manchester City to continue their run of opening league wins, Tottenham Hotspur matches up well against City and can beat the Sky Blues.

If Tottenham Hotspur is to end Manchester City’s first-game winning streak at 10 matches they are going to have to play to their strengths and exploit City’s weaknesses. The Spurs are fortunate to catch the Sky Blues as less than 100%, however, even without Kevin De Bruyne, City is a good team. The Lilywhites are going to have to play well and do the following five things to win.

Tottenham Key One – Fight to win the possession battle

Tottenham kind of ruined their own season last year falling in love with their win at home against Manchester City. While 2-0 on paper seems a solid drubbing – and it is – the reality of that match was that City peppered shots toward goal but could not really get much on target.

Following that win, the Spurs seemed to think they could sit back and simply counter and beat anyone and that was not the case. And while Spurs retain a healthy respect for City, we will not see the same kind of park-the-bus philosophy of last season. Rather, Tottenham is going to fight to win the ball and maintain possession.

Manchester City wants the ball and grows the longer they have it. Step one to beating them is not allowing the tempo, flow, and rhythm of the match to be entirely dictated by City. To avoid that you have to fight for and maintain a healthy percentage of possession. Tottenham does not really have to win the possession battle. However, if Spurs can keep City’s possession closer to 53% rather than 63% it favors the Lilywhites.