Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur- live

Latest

MANCHESTER CITY 0 SPURS 0 (Kick off 13.30)

13.02 Time for today's first pertinent statistical tweet from our friends at Opta:

Twitter: OptaJoe - 3 - Tottenham have won their last three away league games; they haven’t won four in a row since April 1989. Ambition.

12.45 So Jermain Defoe is rewarded for a hat-trick in midweek with a place on the bench. Memories of this, perhaps?

12.40 Here are the teams:

Man City: Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany (C), Nastasic, Clichy; Yaya Toure, Barry; Kolarov, Silva, Tevez; Aguero. Subs: Pantilimon, Kolo Toure, Sinclair, Garcia, Dzeko, Razak, Maicon

Spurs: Friedel, Walker, Caulker, Gallas, Vertonghen, Sandro, Huddlestone, Lennon, Dempsey, Bale, Adebayor Subs: Lloris, Naughton, Dawson, Livermore, Carroll, Sigurdsson, Defoe

Referee: Michael Oliver

12.30 Afternoon liveblog fans.

A tale of two teams who used to be pretty fun this lunchtime.

City were fun like a free night in a luxury hotel, an unpredictable drunk or gawping at a non-fatal car crash.

Spurs were fun like an attacking football team, a Ruel Fox cross or a Harry Redknapp interview that suddenly goes sour and sweary:

Things have changed. City have been a deeply unlovely team to watch in recent weeks. Huffing and puffing but failing to blow anyone's house down, despite the trillions of money pounds they've spent on everything a football club might possibly fancy spending money on.

Spurs are a team in the Andre Villas-Boas mould. Technical, efficient, tough but light on flair and with a propensity to feature in low scoring games.

Today's game represents a chance for both teams to right their increasingly tiresome ships. City can re-establish a sense of themselves as title-botherers with a comfortable win over one of the league's better sides.

Spurs could confirm the suspicions that Roberto Mancini's side have lost their way and edge their season back into the "yeah, not bad" column if they can secure another unexpected win in Manchester.

So a low-thrills no frills 1-1 it is, then.

Team news and lots more to follow, stay tuned.

Here's a lovely preview:

Sunday, November 11

Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur Etihad Stadium Kick-off: 13.30 GMT TV: Live, Sky Sports 1, Highlights BBC ONE Match of the Day2.

Manchester City (Possible, 4-2-3-1): Hart; Zabaleta, Nastasic, Kompany, Clichy; Javi Garcia, Barry; Silva, Y Touré, Agüero; Tévez. Out: Milner, Rodwell (both hamstring), Richards (knee). Tests: Lescott (back), Maicon (foot), Silva (hamstring).

Tottenham Hotspur (Possible, 4-2-3-1): Friedel; Walker, Gallas, Caulker, Vertonghen; Sandro, Huddlestone; Lennon, Dempsey, Bale; Defoe. Out: Dembélé (hip), Parker (Achilles), Assou-Ekotto, Kaboul (both knee). Test: Sandro (calf).

Referee: Michael Oliver. Matches 5, R1 Y11.

Team News Manchester City trio Joleon Lescott, Maicon and David Silva are hoping to return to action in Sunday's Barclays Premier League game against Tottenham.

Defenders Lescott and Maicon – the Brazilian was an unused substitute in midweek – and playmaker Silva are all back in training after spells on the sidelines.

Right-back Micah Richards and midfielders James Milner and Jack Rodwell remain on the injury list.

Meanwhile, Tottenham midfielder Sandro has a chance of recovering from a calf injury for Sunday's game against Manchester City, according to manager Andre Villas-Boas.

Villas-Boas must decide whether to stick with Hugo Lloris or recall Brad Friedel in goal, while Emmanuel Adebayor could feature against his former club.

Mousa Dembélé, Scott Parker, Benoît Assou-Ekotto and Younes Kaboul are unavailable.

Match Notes The final seconds of this fixture last season proved pivotal in deciding the outcome of the campaign for both clubs.

City's stoppage-time winner, seconds after Tottenham had spurned a chance to make it 3-2 and win the game, proved crucial in ensuring their title success on goal difference four months later.

Spurs? Their title bid subsequently fell apart and manager Harry Redknapp lost his job.

The stakes are just as high on Sunday and it's a game neither team can afford to lose.

Betting: Home 6-10, Away 18-5, Draw 13-5.

Stat of the game: Tottenham have lost just four times in 15 Premier League visits to Manchester City, winning nine.

Mark Ogden’s prediction: Manchester City 2 Tottenham Hotspur 2.

Premier League

Sport » Football » Manchester City » Tottenham Hotspur »

In Premier League Rise of the 'football artists'

Premier League action

The 50 best images from the sporting highlights of 2012

Rooney: 10 of his best

Look out behind you...

telegraphuk Please enable JavaScript to view the comments powered by Disqus. blog comments powered by Disqus

promotions »

FEATURED ADVERTISING

Cars

Engineering

VistaPrint

Search for Engineering Jobs in the UK and overseas

Search for the full range of VistaPrint services

Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur- live

Last updated : 11 November 2012 By telegraph