Midweek glory, weekend struggles; rinse and repeat. After Wednesday’s convincing win abroad, Tottenham Hotspur gets a long break before Champions League play resumes, so unless the performances improve back home, the vibes might get even darker. With the next four matches all coming against the country’s best, that feels like a very real possibility.
That being said, there is reason to believe Sunday will go just fine. In comes lowly Manchester City, a team that finished four whole places below Spurs in the League Phase and that loses more than it wins at this stadium. The complexity is with how Tottenham supporters should feel about this one, with plenty of conflicting variables making this a very messy watch.
Match Details
Date: Sunday, February 1
Time: 11:30 am ET, 4:30 pm UK
Location: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, London
TV: NBCSN/Peacock (US), Sky Sports Main Event (UK)
Table: Spurs (t-14th, 28 pts), City (t-2nd, 46 pts)
After four straight Premier League wins in North London, City has taken the last two matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, including a 1-0 victory last February. However, Spurs’ logic-defying hold over England’s top side has not ceased, with the last nine fixtures going 5-1-3 in their favor. That trend was continued in August’s 2-0 upset at the Etihad, with Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha helping to secure all three points.
Two Things to Watch
The case for…losing
There is no right or wrong way to support a team, though ideally the number of times one is actively is rooting against one’s favorite side is very limited. Strangely, this weekend is yet another occurrence of this conundrum that only City seems to bring out. While supporter sentiment is unlikely to have any tangible impact on the actual pitch, everyone reading this is a supporter, so it is worth the conversation.
Two different arguments could be made for wanting Tottenham to lose this one. The first is the title race, a la May 2024 when Heung-Min Son’s miss was etched into lore. It is fair to be skeptical of City’s ability to actually win enough to jump into first given their lackluster showings for much of this season, but it would not be the first time Pep Guardiola’s group took it to another level to close out the year.
The other view is from those who are out on Thomas Frank. Should Spurs go through the next four matches with essentially no improvement, it might force the hand of the Tottenham leadership to finally make the change. There is enough time before March’s Round of 16 to get a stabilizer in place, but time is of the essence; a beatdown on Sunday makes that more likely to happen soon.
The case for trying!
Heading into the weekend, Spurs are just eight points above relegation with arguably the worst form of the league. It would still take something historic to actually finish in the bottom three, but the upcoming fixture list is likely to bump up that percentage. None of these matches will come easily, so given the recent history against City, this might actually be the best chance at three points.
At the same time, Tottenham is only six points behind seventh place. While a finish in the European places is also unlikely, this gap is far from insurmountable. A couple good results over the next month — with much less fixture congestion — could put Spurs right in the thick of the hunt down the stretch. Add in some players getting back healthy and this could be the start of quite the climb.
Above all else: To Dare Is To Do. Maybe losing helps City win the title, but with 15 matches still remaining, the direct benefits will feel much smaller than they did two seasons ago. And while a loss (or lack of win) probably makes Frank’s exit speed up, it is not going to be the final straw after two strong performances in Europe over the past 10 days. Instead, maybe it is time to rally together and dream about what the next four months could bring.