Preview: Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City

Seeking their 10th Premier League double over the boys in sky blue, Tottenham Hotspur welcome Manchester City to their North London home for Sunday's main event.

Both sides return to domestic action on the back of 2-0 Champions League wins, as the Lilywhites took down Eintracht Frankfurt while the Citizens strolled past Galatasaray on their own patch.

Match preview

As was the case during Ange Postecoglou's second season, Tottenham continue to paper over the Premier League cracks with continental plasters, but European success at the expense of domestic humiliation is not the best omen for Thomas Frank.

The former Brentford head coach is yet to lead the Lilywhites to a Premier League victory since the turn of the year, overseeing a miserable three draws and two defeats from Spurs' five top-flight games in 2026, most recently a painful 2-2 stalemate with newly-promoted Burnley.

Once again, Spurs' colossal centre-back duo bailed them out, as Micky van de Ven's opener and Cristian Romero's last-gasp leveller prevented Tottenham from suffering an embarrassing third-straight loss in the top flight, where they currently sit 14th in the table.

Despite some reported growing internal doubts, the board continue to back the under-pressure Frank to turn Spurs' fortunes around, even in the face of growing fan discontent - which was easily audible at Turf Moor.

Just how long the Dane can hold out for remains to be seen, though, as he currently holds the worst points-per-game ratio in Premier League home matches of all Spurs managers with 0.82, overseeing just two top-flight successes on his own patch this term.

However, Tottenham have a UCL last-16 tie to look forward to after a morale-boosting 2-0 triumph over Eintracht Frankfurt, extending their unbeaten run in all tournaments to three games and earning their head coach another stay of execution.

One man who has rarely had to worry about being given his P45 - even during Man City's unforeseen plight in 2024-25 - Pep Guardiola squares up to one of his bogey teams with revenge on his mind.

The Sky Blues' Etihad hoodoo against Spurs continued in August's shock 2-0 loss to Frank's men, but the visitors have at least prevailed on their last two trips to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the top flight and could now win three straight Premier League away games against Spurs for the first time ever.

Speaking of three-match winning streaks, that is also what City will be pursuing in all tournaments after back-to-back 2-0 victories over Wolverhampton Wanderers and Galatasaray, the latter seeing Guardiola's side join Spurs in the last 16 of the Champions League after Benfica's extraordinary win over Real Madrid.

Back in the top flight, the beating of Wolves snapped a four-game winless sequence for the Citizens and saw them finally capitalise on an Arsenal slip-up, cutting the gap to the Gunners to four points after Manchester United's terrific Emirates triumph.

Mikel Arteta's men will temporarily restore a seven-point lead if they get the better of Leeds United on Saturday, after which Arsenal fans may don their Spurs scarves for a couple of hours, hoping to witness Guardiola's ninth Premier League loss against the Lilywhites.

Tottenham Hotspur Premier League form:

Tottenham Hotspur form (all competitions):

Manchester City Premier League form:

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Team News

Spurs fans may be blessed with some long-awaited good news on the fitness front, as Frank is keeping his fingers crossed that Van de Ven will return from the minor issue that prevented him from turning out against Frankfurt.

Conor Gallagher, Yves Bissouma, Mathys Tel, Radu Dragusin and Souza will also all return after being ineligible for European action in midweek, but James Maddison (knee), Mohammed Kudus (thigh), Dejan Kulusevski (knee), Ben Davies (ankle), Pedro Porro (hamstring), Lucas Bergvall (ankle), Richarlison (hamstring) and Rodrigo Bentancur (hamstring) remain out.

Midweek scorer Randal Kolo Muani has been heavily linked with a late January return to Juventus, but Spurs are not thought to be considering an exit for the Frenchman, who may start alongside Dominic Solanke here.

Meanwhile, City's success over Galatasaray came at a cost, as Jeremy Doku - who set up both goals on the evening - sustained a calf injury which will rule him out of Sunday's game at the very least.

The Belgian joins Ruben Dias (hamstring), Josko Gvardiol (leg), John Stones (thigh), Mateo Kovacic (ankle) and Savinho (thigh) in the infirmary, but the visitors will receive a triple boost regardless.

Indeed, Rodri is available again after serving a Champions League ban, while Antoine Semenyo and Marc Guehi - also ineligible for the continent's premier tournament - are back too.

Off the pitch, Guardiola did not conduct his pre-game media duties on Friday due to a personal matter, but the head coach is expected to man the touchline at Tottenham.

Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:

Vicario; Spence, Romero, Van de Ven, Udogie; Palhinha, Gallagher; Odobert, Simons, Kolo Muani; Solanke

Manchester City possible starting lineup:

Donnarumma; Nunes, Khusanov, Guehi, O'Reilly; Rodri; Cherki, Silva, Reijnders, Semenyo; Haaland

We say: Tottenham Hotspur 1-3 Manchester City

No team has won more league games against Guardiola as a manager than Tottenham, but Spurs' Champions League victory over Borussia Dortmund proved to be a false dawn in the Premier League - see Burnley.

Even without the dangerous Doku giving his full-back a torrid time, City should still capitalise on Tottenham's domestic struggles and injury crisis to keep the pressure on Arsenal - a worthy sacrifice according to some corners of Spurs social media.