Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City: Home advantage
(Baonghean.vn) - When the UEFA Champions League quarter-final draw brought together two Premier League representatives, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur, people considered Manchester City to be much stronger than Spurs, because Manchester City's current form, position on the rankings and head-to-head record this season are much better.
The first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals will take place at 2:00 a.m. on April 10, 2019.
But this is the Champions League, where problems are solved in 90 minutes, not over a long season. And in this competition, Manchester City are not much better than Tottenham Hotspurs.
Since being bought by wealthy Arab owners in 2008, Manchester City has had the most glorious decade in its history. In 10 years, and with almost unlimited financial resources, Manchester City has won 3 Premier League Cups, 1 FA Cup, 4 League Cups, 2 Community Shields... but no European titles.
Their best achievement in the C1 arena was reaching the semi-finals in the 2015/16 season, where they lost to Real Madrid. That modest achievement was a big disappointment for the ambitions of the club's wealthy owners. That was also the main reason why Roberto Mancini and Pellegrini had to leave so that Pep Guardiola, a coach with a "good hand" in the UEFA Champions League arena, could take over the team from the 2016 season.
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| Will Tottenham beat Man City thanks to home field advantage? Photo: Premier League |
Under Guardiola, Manchester City have become the best team in England in recent seasons, with an extremely high quality and ambitious squad. They have one of the best midfields in the world with Sterling, Leroy Sane, Riyad Mahez, Bernado Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Fernadinho, Gundogan and David Silva.
Manchester City are having a great season and are still aiming for a historic "quadruple", they have won the League Cup, just reached the FA Cup final and are in a good position in the Premier League race. Meeting Tottenham is clearly a big advantage for Manchester City to go further in the C1 arena, thereby completing the dream of the Arab owners.
In contrast to the blue half of Manchester is the "miserable" financial situation of Tottenham Hotspurs. This team still plays well as usual, still has top players, but the problem is that the team's owner, Daniel Levy, is too stingy.
Every year we see Spurs sell their best players and rarely buy back worthy replacements. A team that relies mostly on young players from its academy, in modern football that is not enough.
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| Manchester City are on a winning streak. Photo courtesy |
For many years, Tottenham has always been in the top 6 strongest clubs in England, they own many typical talents of English football but that's all. The "roosters" only have one squad to fight in too many arenas, it is easy to see that when entering the final stage, Harry Kane, Dele Ali, Son - Heung Ming or Eriksen are overloaded. The lack of titles suddenly becomes understandable.
In the C1 arena, Spurs' best achievement was the Quarterfinals in the 2011/12 season, where they also lost to Real Madrid.
Putting it on the scale, it can be seen that Manchester City is better than Tottenham in all aspects, however, statistics show that the head-to-head record of these two teams is equivalent. In history, these two teams have met 156 times, in which Man City won 61 times, Tottenham won 60 times and the two teams drew 35 times. That shows the equal strength in this match. And within the limits of a match, anything can happen.
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| The joy of Tottenham players when winning tickets to the quarter-finals of the Champions League 2018 - 2019. Source: Getty |
Tottenham had a break last weekend, while Manchester City had just gone through a tense FA Cup semi-final, winning 1-0 against Brighton & Hove Albion. By playing at a new stadium with nearly double the capacity of White Hart Lane, having more rest and not having many goals other than the UEFA Champions League, the "roosters" will have a comfortable mentality and more strength when facing Pep Guardiola's army.
First leg prediction:
Tottenham Hotspurs 2 - 1 Manchester City
Expected lineup:
Tottenham:Lloris (GK), Alderweireld, Sanchez, Vertonghen, Trippier, Rose, Sissoko, Eriksen, Dele Alli, Son - Heung Ming, Harry Kane
Manchester City: Ederson (GK), Laporte, Otamendi, Stone, Mendy, Fernandinho, David Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, Leroy Sane, Kun Aguero.
