Manchester City will be looking to end their woeful away record against Tottenham Hotspur when they visit the capital on Sunday afternoon.
A 1-0 win over Arsenal in City's last outing saw Pep Guardiola's side advance to the fifth round of the FA Cup, but attention now turns back to the Premier League for City who face a tough test against Spurs. In their last four visits to north London, City have lost all four whilst failing to score, and if they want to keep their title hopes alive, victory seems vital for Guardiola's side on Sunday.
After falling 2-0 down to Spurs in the reverse fixture last month, four goals in the second half saw City win 4-2 in a thrilling contest. Guardiola confirmed that John Stones will be out for three weeks to a month in his pre-match press conference, whilst Phil Foden is available for selection.
READ MORE:Every word from Guardiola press conference
So, could City beat Arsenal to advance to the FA Cup fifth round on Friday night? Let's take a look.
We simulated Tottenham vs Man City to get a score prediction
To complete this simulation, we used FIFA 23 and updated the squads with the latest injuries and suspensions.
We predict that Spurs could set up in a 3-4-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Lloris; Romero, Dier, Davies; Emerson, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Perisic; Kulusevski, Kane, Son.
We predict that City could line up in a 4-3-3 formation, with their line-up as follows: Ederson; Walker, Dias, Laporte, Ake; Rodri, De Bruyne, Gundogan; Mahrez, Haaland, Grealish.
City dominated the first half in north London, with Jack Grealish and Ilkay Gundogan causing all sorts of problems down the left for Spurs. Hugo Lloris was called into action multiple times in the opening stages, but the 'keeper was beaten after 37 minutes when Erling Haaland found the opener.
In typical Grealish fashion, the forward patiently waited for his marker to lunge in before skipping past and surging into the box from the left. Rather than shooting, Grealish squared the ball to Haaland who was in space, and with a first-time effort, the striker powered a strike past Lloris to send City ahead.
It was a deserved goal for Guardiola's side, with the hosts failing to register a shot in the first half, compared to City's seven. And, the situation got even better for City before the break, with Rodri getting on the scoresheet to send his side into half-time 2-0 up.
The Spaniard sprayed a ball into the feet of Haaland on the edge of the box who did brilliantly to hold up play, and Rodri continued his run forward unmarked to receive a return pass from the Norwegian. As the ball rolled into his path, the midfielder fired a looping effort towards goal, flying over Lloris and into the top corner of the net.
Spurs came out in the second half a much-improved side, and the red flags started to appear for City when Dejan Kulusevski made it 2-1 with a long-range effort following some poor defending from Ake. All of a sudden, City found themselves on the back foot, and the pressure from Spurs led to an equaliser in the 72nd minute.
Yves Bissouma flicked the ball into the path of Kulusevski who found himself in a central position, and the forward scooped the ball forward for Harry Kane to chase. In a dangerous position, the striker shot early, and his strike flew across Ederson and into the far corner to draw the game level.
FIFA 23 predicted final score: Spurs 2-2 Man City
Here are the full-time match stats.
FIFA 23 predicts that in opposite fashion to their meeting earlier this season, City could sacrifice a 2-0 lead against Spurs, drawing 2-2 as their poor away record against the Lilywhites continued. Some poor phases in defence allowed Spurs to claw their way back into the game, with John Stones proving a big miss in the simulation.
What do you think the final score will be? Let us know in the comments!
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