Paul Merson predicts who’ll win between Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur

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Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur lock horns in a huge Premier League encounter at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

And Paul Merson, writing on Sportskeeda, has given his verdict on how he feels the Citizens will fare against Spurs in the 4:30pm GMT kickoff.

Man City have drawn their last two Premier League games and will be eager to get back to winning ways against a depleted Tottenham outfit.

Should Pep Guardiola’s charges fail to beat Spurs, that’ll be the first time they’ll have gone three top-flight games without a win since 2017.

Meanwhile, Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou has had to contend with a huge unavailability list that seems to be growing by the week.

James Maddison, Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, Pape Matar Sarr and Richarlison are recovering from injury, while Sergio Romero completes a three-game ban.

Tottenham were flying high earlier on in the season, but defeats to Chelsea, Wolves and Aston Villa have tempered the enthusiasm surrounding the Ange Postecoglou appointment.

To make things worse for Spurs, the Etihad is a fortress. City have only lost only one of their last 48 home games in all competitions.

‘Postecoglou is going to stick to his principles’

Merson believes there’s “no way” Spurs can beat City on their own turf with such a depleted squad.

“With the number of injuries Tottenham have got, there’s no way they’re beating City,” he said. “I’d be worried going into this game if I were a Spurs fan.

“They might cause City a few problems on the break but if they leave themselves open like they did last weekend, they will be in trouble.

“I think if Tottenham were up to full strength, this would be game on. Spurs’ problem is that most of their sidelined stars are starters. That’s very unfortunate.

“I think Ange Postecoglou is going to stick to his principles and that’s going to cost him and his side dearly against City.”

Manchester City lock horns with Tottenham Hotspur in intriguing match-up

On paper, Man City are undoubtedly the favourites against Tottenham. That likely would’ve been the case even if Spurs were at full strength, albeit ‘slightly’ instead of ‘overwhelming’.

Spurs have suffered a spare of injuries and suspensions that would hamper the best of the best, never mind a team that finished eighth last season and has only had one window to strengthen since Postecoglou came on board.

However, Tottenham played admirably well against Chelsea, where things fell apart in real time during the match. This time, Spurs will have been able to prepare for this, so it’ll be interesting to see how they fare.

On paper, you’d expect a heavy City win. However, you can’t help but feel that Postecoglou will have some sort of ace up his sleeve. I think it’ll be closer than people imagine. Let’s go with City 2-1 Spurs.