Who: Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
What: English Premier League
Where: Etihad Stadium in Manchester, United Kingdom
When: Saturday, August 23 at 12:30pm (11:30 GMT)
How to follow: We’ll have all the updates on Al Jazeera Sport from 9:30am (8:30 GMT) in advance of our live match commentary stream at 12:30pm (11:30 GMT).
After the battle of Old Trafford between Manchester United and Arsenal on the opening weekend, the Premier League has served up another mouth-watering early-season meeting between two sides with lofty ambitions this term.
Manchester City and Tottenham both proved to be well below par last season but come into the new campaign full of vigour – and with plenty of new signings.
Al Jazeera Sport takes a look at another stellar Premier League match-up in only the second round of fixtures.
How did Man City and Tottenham fare last season?
Manchester City’s slide was the most surprising of all last year, as Pep Guardiola’s defending champions struggled through the early months of the campaign before scrambling over the line to claim a Champions League qualifying position at the last.
Tottenham, meanwhile, finished one place above the relegation zone – a position that led to Thomas Franck replacing Ange Postecoglou as manager.
Spurs did, however, lift the Europa League, beating Manchester United in the final, meaning the north London club are competing in the Champions League alongside City this season.
What happened on the opening weekend for Man City and Tottenham?
City stormed to a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers with Erling Haaland netting twice. Tijjani Reijnders, making his Premier League debut, was one of the key performers and topped his day with a goal, while Rayan Cherki came off the bench to score the fourth.
Tottenham also eased their way into the new campaign with a 3-0 home win against Burnley.
Richarlison scored the first two for Spurs, the opener in the 10th minute, before Brennan Johnson added the third.
Who did Man City and Tottenham sign in the summer?
Former Man City academy player James Trafford was a late summer signing in goal for City and is set to continue between the sticks with Ederson still being linked with a move away from the Etihad.
The 23-year-old, who left City for Burnley in 2023, is the latest of six summer recruits for Guardiola to go with the arrivals of Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov, Nico Gonzalez and Vitor Reis in the January window.
The signings of Reijnders, defender Rayan Ait-Nouri, midfielder Sverre Nypan and winger Cherki, alongside Trafford and veteran keeper Marcus Bettinelli, means City’s spending for 2025 has surpassed the 300 million pound ($402m) mark.
Tottenham have not been shy themselves, when it comes to splashing the cash with eight recruits signed in this window.
The capture of Ghana forward, Mohammed Kudus, from rivals West Ham for 55 million pounds ($73.8m) is the headline news.
Fellow attacker Mathys Tel was hardly cheap, though, with the 20-year-old Frenchman secured for 40.2 million pounds ($53.9m) from Bayern Munich. Both will be looked upon to fill the hole left by Son Heung-min’s transfer to Los Angeles.
Kevin Danso’s 21 million pounds ($28.2m) arrival in defence from Lens will also be seen as a major move following the difficulties suffered at the back by Spurs under Postecoglou.
What happened the last time Man City played Tottenham?
The last meeting between the teams was in North London in February with City winning 1-0.
Erling Haaland scored the only goal of the game in the 12th minute.
What happened in the corresponding fixture last season?
Tottenham stormed to a 4-0 win in the Premier League encounter at Etihad Stadium last season.
City were in the middle of a wretched run, which ended their title defence before it got off the ground, and the hammering on November 23 only compounded matters.
James Maddison scored in the 12th and 20th minutes to give Spurs a storming start before Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson rounded off matters in the second half.
Spurs had already claimed a 2-1 League Cup win against City by that stage of the season.
Head-to-head
This is the 165th meeting between the clubs with Manchester City winning 69 times and Tottenham emerging victorious on 68 occasions.
The first meeting came in January 1909 with Spurs winning 4-3 in an FA Cup encounter in Manchester.
The North London club have won two of the last three matches, ending a run of only one win in five against City.
Man City team news
Midfielders Mateo Kovacic, Kalvin Phillips and forward Savinho will all miss the match due to Achilles issues for the former two and an unspecified injury for the latter.
Rodri, Ederson, Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol were all absent from the season-opening win against Wolverhampton Wanderers but returned to training this week.
Tottenham team news
Maddison leads a long list of absentees for Spurs and his loss is doubly felt following his brace in the win at the Etihad last season.
Radu Dragusin, Dejan Kulusevski, Bryan Gil, Manor Solomon and Kota Takai are all also missing for the trip due to injuries.
Yves Bissouma and Destiny Udogie, however, are both set to be assessed ahead of the match after missing the win against Burnley due to knocks.
Manchester City predicted starting lineup
Trafford; Nunes, Stones, Dias, Ait-Nouri; Bernardo, Gonzalez; Bobb, Reijnders, Marmoush; Haaland
Tottenham Hotspur predicted starting lineup
Source: Aljazeera
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