It has been a long time since Tottenham Hotspur were competently winning games in the Premier League, and you have to go all the way back to one of the first Matchdays of the 2025/26 season for the last time Spurs were truly impressive. That 2-0 victory over Manchester City seems like it was from yesteryear and in another season entirely, such has been the decline from Thomas Frank's early days to his current ones.
Frank is barely treading water at Tottenham, and it feels like both the fan base and even the players have turned on the coach, with no confidence in his ability to lead this team past anything other than barely scraping safety from relegation. Last weekend's 2-2 draw with Burnley was another low point, and if it were not for the heroics of superstar center backs Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven as attacking threats, Spurs would have 100 percent lost to one of the least talented squads in the Premier League.
Well, now Tottenham Hotspur have to face one of the most talented teams in the Premier League in Manchester City, who are ten times the unit they were back in the beginning of the season when these two powers of English football (if Tottenham can even be referred to as such at this point) last met up.
Tottenham get a tough Micky van de Ven update
Not only did Man City sign one time Tottenham transfer target Antoine Semenyo this winter, but their summer signing that Tottenham should have pursued, Rayan Cherki, has blossomed into the perfect partner in crime for Erling Haaland.
To make matters worse, Tottenham's star center back Micky van de Ven is now questionable to play on Sunday in this high stakes Premier League battle. Per manager Thomas Frank, via Football.London's Alasdair Gold, while Van de Ven is not seriously injured, the Dutch superstar is "touch and go" for the game against Manchester City.
Frank said, "Micky is a minor one. It will be touch and go. He was on the pitch yesterday and today but he's touch and go."
Van de Ven is a warrior and thus actually stands a decent enough chance at suiting up, but to be honest, every time Frank has said this before about a player, Tottenham have ended up missing them. The good news is that Spurs have big Kevin Danso to shore up the back line against the mighty Haaland, but the bad news is that Danso cannot play the ball or score goals like Van de Ven. He would be a huge miss.