Tottenham vs Manchester City (Premier League): Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How to Watch  | OneFootball

Manchester City return to domestic action on Sunday evening as Tottenham stand in the way of their hopes of three consecutive wins in all competitions.

Last time out, the Blues emerged victorious on the European stage, defeating Turkish outfit Galatasaray 2-0 thanks to goals from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki at the Etihad Stadium, which earned them the right of passage to the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.

The deadlock was broken after 11 minutes as City’s Norwegian talisman latched onto an inch-perfect through-ball from Jeremy Doku and dispatched it expertly by lifting it over Ugurcan Cakir to give the hosts a crucial lead.

City continued to dominate the ball from that point onwards, applying pressure to the visitors that eventually saw Rayan Cherki double the lead for Pep Guardiola’s side with 29 minutes on the clock.

Okan Buruk’s side went up a gear in the second period but still offered very little in regard to threatening Gianluigi Donnarumma’s goal, allowing City to ease their way to a rather simple yet crucial win, with the only downside being a calf injury sustained by Jeremy Doku prior to the interval.

The win saw Pep Guardiola’s side clinch automatic Round of 16 qualification with an eighth place finish in the group phase, narrowly escaping the Round of 32 play-off stage. The possible opposition on the horizon continentally for the Blues consists of any of the following teams: Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Bodo/Glimt and SL Benfica.

Now though, all eyes are on the Premier League for City as they are tasked with facing Thomas Frank’s Tottenham at a ground where they have historically faced severe adversity, scoring just five goals in all competitions since the north Londoners moved to their stadium in 2019.

Tottenham have faced troubled times in the English top-flight of late, with their last Premier Leagie victory coming in December 2025 at Selhurst Park.

This game is of immense importance for both sides as Manchester City need three points to keep pace with Premier League leaders Arsenal, whilst victory is also essential for Frank as his future as Tottenham manager very much hangs in the balance.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium-

Match Details

Thomas Frank and co welcome Manchester City to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, with kick-off slated for 16:30 UK.

Match Officials

The Premier League have confirmed that Robert Jones – who officiated Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest in December – will take charge of the fixture, whilst Australian referee Jarred Gillett will be the Video Assistant Referee (VAR).

Check out the full list of match officials below-

Team News

For the hosts, this match comes in the midst of an injury crisis as Dejan Kulusevski, Ben Davies, James Maddison, Lucas Bergvall, Rodrigo Bentancur, Mohammed Kudus, Richarlison and Pedro Porro will be unavailable for selection for Frank on Sunday.

Micky Van de Ven was also unavailable for the hosts in midweek but Frank is hopeful that the Dutch central defender may be able to make a return to start against City.

Furthermore, Yves Bissouma, Radu Dragusin, Conor Gallagher, Mathys Tel and Souza are available for Spurs after missing their win over Eintracht Frankfurt.

For City, the injury burden does not appear to be getting any lighter as the Blues remain without Ruben Dias, John Stones, Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic and Savinho for their visit to the English capital.

Jeremy Doku is also sidelined after picking up an injury to his calf against Galatasaray; the winger’s absence is not expected to rule him out for an extensive period of time, however. Dias is also expected to return to first-team training on Monday, with a view of marking his return to action against Liverpool at Anfield next weekend.

Press Conference Quotes

Pep Guardiola was unavailable for pre-match media duties on Friday as Manchester City assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders stepped in to address the media. Here’s everything he had to say!

On the January transfer window: “I think we did excellent business with Antoine (Semenyo), Marc (Guehi), and Oscar (Bobb) leaving, of course, but I think we added strength. What you always search for is to add somebody who can improve your first 11.

“If you can find players who can – and that’s not easy for Man City – improve your first 11, you do good business. I feel we’ve succeeded.”

On Jack Grealish’s foot injury: “I think Jack doesn’t have to prove anything, with what he did in the last years at Man City. Jack’s a player who, from each situation, can create chances. He’s had an excellent season.

“I’d be very disappointed because he made the move (to Everton) to play, always involved, and being injured – I don’t know how severe it is – hopefully he can come back, and hopefully for England he’ll be available because these players decide tournaments.”

On Oscar Bobb’s Manchester City exit: “At this age, to make a transfer like that, for that amount of money in the Premier League – I’m really happy for him! I think it’s a great step to go to Marco (Silva’s) team and the way they set up, they play with outside triangles, being flexible and they’ll feed him a lot of balls.

“I’m really happy for him, and it’s a big compliment for our academy because another player is making a big step who has the quality to play in the Premier League.”

On Tottenham: “We are really looking forward to this game. We have to be, for 95 minutes, really concentrated and think about how we want to play and how we want to do it, to show our mentality, our way. But we’re looking forward to going there.”

On Jeremy Doku’s injury: “It’s a similar injury to the last, only that time it was a little bit on the outside, the lateral side, and now it’s in the centre. Last time it took 18 days; I presume this will be a little shorter. But it’s in the middle, so we have to take time. But Jeremy is very robust, so let’s see.”

Head-to-Head

In the last encounter between the pair, Tottenham ran out 2-0 victors at the Etihad Stadium courtesy of goals from Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha as Manchester City were handed a sobering reality check on their first home game of the 2025-26 league campaign.

Historically, this has been a fiercely competitive fixture and in the 156 matches between Tottenham and Manchester City, the Blues have emerged victorious 62 times; whilst the Lilywhites have won 61, with the remaining 33 ending in a stalemate.

Statistics

Tottenham have completed the Premier League double over Manchester City nine times so far, more than they have over any other opponent. Meanwhile, only Chelsea (10) have done so more against the Blues.

City have won their last two away league games against Spurs, last winning three in a row between February 1973 and August 1974.

Tottenham Hotspur are winless in five Premier League matches (D3 L2), their fourth run of over five winless games in the last two seasons. They only had four runs of five or more winless games across their previous 12 seasons combined, between the 2012-13 and 2023-24 campaigns.

In the last two seasons, Manchester City rank sixth for points won away from home in the Premier League (46 in 30 games – an average of 1.53 per game). In the two seasons beforehand, City won the joint most away points (81 in 38 games, averaging to 2.13 points per game).

In the last two seasons, the only ever-present sides to pick up fewer Premier League points than Tottenham (66) are Wolves (50) and West Ham (63), with Spurs’ 31 defeats second only to Wolves (37) in that time.

Another defeat would mean Spurs have lost over 10 games for eight consecutive seasons since the 2018-19 campaign; in their eight seasons beforehand (2010-11 to 2017-18), this only happened twice.

City faced as many shots as they had themselves last time out against Wolves (11), the seventh time this season they’d either had fewer or as many attempts as their opponents in a Premier League game, the joint most in a season under Pep Guardiola.

They are only averaging 4.7 more shots per game than their opponents this season, their smallest difference in a season under the Spaniard.

How To Watch

For those in the United Kingdom, this match is available on Sky Sports from 16:30 UK.

For United States-based viewers, the game is available to stream on NBCSN and Peacock, with action getting underway from 11:30 EST.

Check out the full global TV listings HERE!

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on our X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram channels throughout matchday, with content also provided on cityxtra.co.uk!