Here is how Manchester City could lineup against Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the Champions League Quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur will go head-to-head thrice in the Champions League and Premier League within ten days. These two sides will meet for the first time in the European competition after producing tons of classics in the Premier League and domestic cup competitions.
Despite Spurs’ poor form, they produced an assuring display against Crystal Palace at their new stadium on Saturday. Notwithstanding their lamentable displays over the last few months, but they have several individual quality to cause damage to any side in the world. On the other hand, Manchester City have been simply too good by winning 20 out of their last 21 games since the turn of the New Year.
Manchester City vanished Schalke in the Round of 16 round by scoring 10 past them in the two-legged tie in spite of a whammy in the first leg. Tottenham Hotspur, on the other hand, were in full control en route to their demolition of Borussia Dortmund in the last round.
The Citizens enter this fixture as favourites, but Mauricio Pochettino will be hungry to enter the Semifinals of the Champions League for the first time as a manager. Of course, Pep Guardiola’s side are aiming for the Quadruple after qualifying for the FA Cup Finals in the weekend and are still in contention for the Premier League and Champions League.
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Pep Guardiola confirmed that the youngster Oleksandr Zinchenko will be out for sometime after picking up a hamstring injury when he was in action against Cardiff City last week and was forced to miss out on the Semifinals clash against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday. Long term absentee Claudio Bravo will sit on the sidelines for the rest of the season.
Left-back Benjamin Mendy started against Brighton and Hove Albion on Saturday and the Frenchman is likely to keep his place on Tuesday. Vincent Kompany would get the nod ahead of John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi because of the experience. However, Pep will have selection conundrum with the attacking midfielders as he has as high as six attacking midfielders.
Eric Dier and Eric Lamela are ruled out of this fixture, whilst right-back Serge Aurier is in also ruled out of the contention to start the game against Pep Guardiola’s side after picking up an injury in training. The rest of the squad will be available to face the Citizens on Tuesday.
PREDICTED LINEUP:
Manchester City: Ederson, Kyle Walker, Vincent Kompany, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Fernandinho, Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Raheem Sterling, Bernardo Silva, Sergio Aguero.
