Man City vs. Tottenham: Pep Guardiola sent “massive banana skin” warning ahead of “real challenge” against Thomas Frank’s side

Manchester City must prepare for a “real challenge” in Saturday’s Premier League contest against a Tottenham Hotspur side who could compete at the top end of the table this season, Citizens expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole.

Both teams enter this fixture after picking up maximum points in their opening games of the 2025-26 season, with Man City easing to a 4-0 victory at Wolverhampton Wanderers and Spurs kick-starting life under new head coach Thomas Frank with a 3-0 home win over Burnley.

McInerney was so impressed with Man City’s performance at Molineux last weekend that he has backed Pep Guardiola’s side to win the Premier League title at this early stage if they can come through a run of difficult fixtures on the horizon against Spurs, Brighton & Hove Albion, Manchester United and Arsenal.

Success against Spurs has been hard to come by for Man City in recent years, though, as they have won eight, lost eight and drawn two of their last 18 encounters with the North Londoners across all competitions.

There has been a lot of change at both clubs since they last butted heads at the Etihad Stadium in November last year when Tottenham stunned the former Premier League champions with an emphatic 4-0 victory under Ange Postecoglou.

James Maddison, who scored twice in that match, will not be able reproduce the same heroics in Saturday's lunchtime kickoff on the blue side of Manchester, as he is sidelined with a long-term injury, but McInerney believes that Spurs still have plenty of talent in their squad that could cause problems for the Citizens once again.

Man City warned of Tottenham “talent” ahead of “tricky” test

“I'm glad Mans City are at home. I think if we were away at Spurs earlier on, I would not have fancied that at all,” McInerney told Sports Mole. “Despite all the positivity of the Wolves game, it's Spurs and they’re such a tricky, aggressive side.

“This Spurs side have got an awful lot going for them and I do have them as an outside bet to challenge for the highest spots in the table this season after the disaster last year.

“I think they're going to play aggressively and be much more organised than they were last season, because Thomas Frank is a cracking manager, so this is going to be a real challenge.”

McInerney added: “There's talent all over the pitch. The creativity out wide from the full-backs [Djed] Spence and [Pedro] Porro was great (against Burnley). [Cristian] Romero and [Micky] Van de Ven is a really good (centre-back) partnership. [Guglielmo] Vicario is a good keeper.

“[Pape Matar] Sarr, [Archie] Gray, [Lucas] Bergvall are good midfielders. The forward line; Brendan Johnson has been scoring goals regularly for a while now for Spurs. [Mohammed] Kudus, a big signing who’s delivered. Richarlison is an established Brazilian number nine.

“Then you look at the bench and [Frank’s] options there as well: Mathys Tel, [Wilson] Odebert, [Joao] Palhinha, [Dominic] Solanke, [Rodrigo] Bentancur, and the players, of course, that are missing. You’ve got to take Spurs seriously this year. They're going to cause an awful lot of trouble for an awful lot of sides.”

‘Spurs could be a massive banana skin for Man City’

Although Spurs could prove to be a “massive banana skin” for Man City this weekend, McInerney remains hopeful that Guardiola’s side will have enough quality to get the better of Frank’s side on home soil.

“Both sides are quite direct and aggressive. I think City might just have a little bit more quality than Spurs, but I expect them to concede the first goal,” he added.

“I am pretty confident in this City side, because it's at home, but it's going to be a real challenge, and it could be a massive banana skin for Manchester City. We could slip up in this game and I wouldn't be surprised if we did, because they have so much talent.

“I'm hoping City's quality at home will be enough to win. Spurs are very much a work in progress still as well under Frank, but I'm not expecting it to be easy.

“It’s always a game early on (in a new season) when City drop some points, be it a draw or something like that. We normally get a decent win at the start, but then we draw the second or third game because things are still very much in transition with the new ideas, and this could be that one, but we'll see.

“I'll go for a City win. 3-1. We're probably going to concede, but I think the quality that City have got will ultimately prove too much, hopefully.”

Nunes to replace Lewis in Guardiola’s lineup for Spurs clash

McInnerney does not expect Guardiola to make too many changes to the Man City side that beat Wolves, with summer signing Tijjani Reijnders set to continue in midfield alongside Bernardo Silva and Nico Gonzalez following a superb man-of-the-match display on his debut.

However, McInerney has tipped Matheus Nunes to be recalled at right-back at the expense of Rico Lewis to provide a greater physical presence in Guardiola’s backline against a “very aggressive” Spurs outfit.

“I think it'll be similar [starting lineup, but] there'll be some changes, I'm almost certain,” he said. “I think Guardiola will probably play Reijnders, Bernardo and Nico Gonzalez. They might get the nod again. I can't see [Ilkay] Gundogan coming in for this one.

“I think Nico Gonzalez was really good (against Wolves). There were implications that it was a positional thing last season for him. Guardiola thought he was good, but it wasn't quite the tempo that he wanted from number six, and he looked a lot better. He had a lot more control and he was positionally so much more assured, and physically better as well than last season.

“I can't really see changes in midfield, because it worked. You had the creativity and the running of Reijnders, the power and the running of Nico Gonzalez as well as Bernardo's experience. It's a balanced midfield, so I think they'll probably stick to that because it complements the way that City are playing.

“I think we'll probably see Nunes. That's one change we might see because Nunes is a powerful runner and Spurs are very aggressive, so it could be Nunes (who comes in for Lewis at right-back). I think Guardiola will probably push on with a reasonably similar side.”

McInerney has also shared his thoughts on Omar Marmoush replacing Jeremy Doku on the left flank and John Stones retaining his starting spot on central defence ahead of Josko Gvardiol, who has returned to training this week after he was not fully fit to play against Wolves.

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