Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur - Match Preview

Manchester City will be hoping to retain their astonishing 100% home league record with a few key players missing and Roberto Mancinci urging Sheik Mansour to get the considerable chequebook out to make sure that City can win the Premier League for the first time this season. Meanwhile Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp believes that a defeat today at the Eithad Stadium against Manchester City won't mean they are out of the title race but he must deep down believe that stopping City going eight points ahead of them today is going to be vital for them to stay in the chase. And if they do pull off an amazing result today and their North London rivals Arsenal do them a favour at the Emirates, Spurs could end the day two points behind City in second place, ahead of Manchester United. Nobody could deny they were in the title race then! Spurs are on a run of seven league games unbeaten and are probably playing the best football in the country right now. They are well versed to playing big games against the Blues. The last two seasons they secured and lost out on their Champions League places, ironically both decided 1-0 by the departed Peter Crouch (one for, and one own goal against). No Crouch today but many giants of the Premier League will be tussling out today...

Team News

Mario Balotelli and Micah Richards should return after they both missed Monday's match at Wigan through injury. Definitely missing today are Yaya and Kolo Toure on International duty at the African Nations and Vincent Kompany is still suspended. For Spurs, on loan striker Emmanuel Adebayor can't play against his parent club, which means Jermain Defoe should get the nod to start alongside Rafael Van Der Vaart. A key loss for Spurs is Ledley King who has missed the past month and is a huge doubt for today. Calf injuries rule out William Gallas and Sandro, whilst an ankle problem keeps Tom Huddlestone out.

Line-ups from;

Man City (from): Hart, Pantilimon, Richards, Zabaleta, Lescott, Savic, Rekik, Clichy, Kolarov, Johnson, Milner, De Jong, Barry, Nasri, Silva, Hargreaves, Dzeko, Balotelli, Aguero, Suarez, Razak. Tottenham (from): Friedel, Gomes, Assou-Ekotto, Kaboul, Walker, King, Bassong, Bale, Modric, Van der Vaart, Parker, Livermore, Kranjcar, Defoe, Rose, Dos Santos, Cudicini, Pavlyuchenko, Lennon, Pienaar, Dawson.