TOTTENHAM are taking on Man City knowing star striker Harry Kane could soon be playing for their opponents.
The England captain and City target is not in the squad today with a lack of fitness the official reason.
Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s visitors have £100m England star Jack Grealish in the starting line-up.
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- TV channel: Sky Sports Premier League/Sky Sports Main Event.
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- Tottenham XI: Lloris, Tanganga, Sanchez, Dier, Reguilon, Skipp, Hojbjerg, Dele, Bergwijn, Lucas, Son
- Man City XI: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Ake, Mendy, Fernandinho, Gundogan, Grealish, Mahrez, Torres, Sterling
SPURS 0-0 MAN CITY
35. Mahrez! Big chance! Wide!
And on the subject of players you’d expect to do better that brings us to Riyad Mahrez.
In fairness to the Algerian, Sterling’s cross in his direction bounces up off Tanganga, and starts to spin behind him as a result.
Nevertheless, Mahrez is in plenty of space as he prepares his left foot, only to crash his effort well off target from close range.
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32. Spurs have had plenty of success on the counter against City in recent years, and almost add to the collection.
Bergwijn and Son work the home side into a good position before the latter fails to take advantage of a cut on to his right foot.
I dare say the Son of this time last season may have fared better in that situation.
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30. Grealish is fouled on the near touchline, right under the nose of Pep Guardiola.
Initially, the City boss isn’t happy with the culprit, Sanchez, but after a few words, the pair exchange a heartwarming embrace. Aww.
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27. Lucas leaves Fernandinho looking every part of his 36 years as he tears through the City midfield.
He eventually finds Son in the area, but the offside flag is quickly up – and that’s not a phrase I had to use often last season.
There’s a breathless tempo to this contest.
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26. Tanganga and Sterling are still going at each other, so much so that Anthony Taylor calls them over for a chat.
This is a battle to keep an eye on.
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24. Similar to Lloris at the other end, Ederson is unconvincing as he rushes off his line to claim an aerial ball.
Sanchez beats the City goalkeeper to the action, and play drops kindly for Lucas to strike. The Brazilian’s volley is cleared off the line by the knee of Gundogan, and not his arm as suggested by thousands behind that goal.
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22. The corner comes to nothing as Sterling watches the ball travel through to safety.
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21. Mendy overplays in support of Grealish, and it prompts a quick Tottenham counter.
The ball is worked left to Bergwijn, whose thumping shot is deflected behind for a corner.
“Come on your Spurs!” chant the home fans.
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20. A run in behind from Torres almost catches out the hosts, only for Reguilon to come Tottenham’s rescue.
City’s Spanish forward has got off to a lively start.
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18. Tanganga is already a favourite with the home crowd.
He uses all his strength and athleticism to win the ball ahead of Sterling, and then shrug off his opponent, who is all over him.
Eventually, Tanganga is awarded the free-kick to a huge roar from the Tottenham faithful.
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17. A steady spell from Spurs, who calm matters down through some neat passing from Hojberg and Skipp. They look a composed pair in midfield.
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15. Mendy gets the better of Lucas, and then Grealish teases Hojbjerg into a foul on the near touchline.
The £100m midfielder has already won three free-kicks already.
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13. To give you an idea of City’s dominance so far, they’ve had 71% of possession and six touches in the opposition box in comparison to Spurs’ zero.
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12. City keep another short corner alive after Spurs mistakenly thought they had cleared their lines.
Mahrez goes to work with some fancy footwork which leaves Dele on his backside, but he’s unable to follow up his run with a worthwhile cross and Lloris claims.
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10. Young Tanganga isn’t showing any respect to his illustrious opponents so far.
The right-back has put in two hefty challenges on Sterling in the opening ten minutes.
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8. Martin Tyler understands that Harry Kane is in the stadium.
The man has spies everywhere. I hope he was put to use during the Cold War.
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6. City are all over Spurs here.
The home side fail to deal with a ball bouncing inside their box, allowing Cancelo to steal in and poke a shot wife.
The visiting fans are in full voice, but almost all their songs are about Harry Kane: “He loves City blue!”
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5. Close!
City work the corner short to Mendy, who curls a cross into a packed penalty area.
Lloris comes rushing off his line to punch, but doesn’t get that, and it’s left to Fernandinho to head wide of an unguarded net.
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4. Gundogan takes charge of the set-piece, and attempts a lifted curler over the wall towards the near post.
It clips the top of Skipp’s head and diverts behind for a corner.
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3. An early glimpse of Grealish!
The new Manchester City man picks up possession, and bursts beyond two Spurs players as he heads for the area.
Before he can enter the box, however, he’s clipped by Skipp and brought crashing to the turf. Anthony Taylor says free-kick… inches outside of the area.
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2. A couple of early touches for Ake as Son threatens with a run over his shoulder.
The City defender is in need of a confident display after finding himself at fault for Leicester’s winner at Wembley last weekend.
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1. Referee Anthony Taylor blows his whistle, and both sets of players take the knee in the ongoing battle against racism, and all forms of discrimination.
The gesture is applauded around the stadium, but just in case you needed reminding why it’s so important, here:
PEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
GAME ON IN NORTH LONDON!HERE COME THE TEAMS!
What a sound! How we’ve missed the roar of home supporters welcoming their team to the field and, if we’re honest, even the boos from Spurs fans for the initial arrival of the Manchester City players trigger some fond memories.
Thousands of flags wave around the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as Hugo Lloris leads out the Londoners. The atmosphere is nothing short of astonishing.
EXPENSIVE BENCH
British transfer record signing Jack Grealish starts for Manchester City this afternoon, but there’s no shortage of other expensive talent among the visitors’ bench.
Pep Guardiola has named nine substitutes including John Stones, Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus at a whopping total cost of £347m.
Manchester City Bench: Steffen, Walker, Stones, Jesus, Zinchenko, Laporte, Rodri, De Bruyne, Bernardo
Surely a Premier League record?
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
