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This weekend marks the return of the Premier League, and in one of the biggest clashes of 2020-21 thus far, Tottenham Hotspur play host to Manchester City.
Tottenham are flying high at the minute, sitting in second place in the Premier League table. City have not started quite so strongly, but they’re on an unbeaten run of five matches and also have a game in hand on their rivals.
With the match also reigniting the long-simmering rivalry between Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho and City boss Pep Guardiola, this is a clash of the biggest magnitude.
With that considered, here are five players to keep an eye on when Tottenham take on Manchester City.
#1 Ferran Torres (Manchester City)
Manchester City’s results this season have been relatively strong, but Pep Guardiola’s men have not looked quite as menacing as they’ve done in their previous campaigns. Part of this has to do with the fact that they’re simply not scoring quite so many goals right now.
City have scored just 10 goals in their opening seven games of the 2020-21 season. That’s nine less than Tottenham have scored thus far, and it’s also 17 less than City managed in the first seven matches of the 2019-20 campaign.
Faced with a defense that has also only let in one goal in their last three matches, City will need to find their goalscoring boots to win this weekend. And one man that could help them in that area is Ferran Torres.
Signed by City in the summer for just over £20m, the Spanish international has yet to find the net in the Premier League. But he has been effective in the Champions League, scoring in all three of City’s matches in Europe thus far.
And more to the point, he scored a hat-trick for Spain last week in their 6-0 destruction of Germany.
With City shorn of the influential Raheem Sterling for Saturday’s game, and with Sergio Aguero also out, Torres may well be the man that Pep Guardiola turns to for his side’s goals. And if he can manage to cut through Tottenham’s defense as he did against Germany, then he could win the game for his team.
#2 Son Heung-min (Tottenham)
The winner of the Premier League’s Player of the Month award for October, Son Heung-min has been on fire for Tottenham in the opening games of 2020-21. While Harry Kane has also taken plenty of the plaudits, his partner in crime has been arguably even more effective.
Son has already plundered eight goals in his first eight games this season, and he’s registered two assists as well. Right now, it seems that whenever the South Korean gets a sight of goal, he’s probably going to score.
That should worry Pep Guardiola greatly – particularly as Son is likely to be up against Kyle Walker at the weekend. The England international has not been in the best form recently – being derided by pundit Roy Keane for his performance against Liverpool. And in Son, he’ll be faced with a rare opponent who can match him for pace.
Son also loves to play against Manchester City. The Korean international scored the key goals for Tottenham in their Champions League triumph over City in 2019 – the winner in the first leg and a brace in the second. Again, Son added Tottenham’s second goal in their 2-0 win over Guardiola’s men in February.
If City are to win this game, then they must find a way to stop Son from getting chances in front of goal – otherwise, the spoils will go to Tottenham.
#3 Ruben Dias (Manchester City)
City might not look as potent in front of goal right now, but one area they’ve improved in since last season appears to be in defense. However, even that’s been a work in progress in recent months.
Pep Guardiola’s side were slaughtered 2-5 by Leicester City in September and then looked worryingly open in their following match against Leeds United. However, in the days that followed those games, Guardiola brought Portuguese international Ruben Dias to the Etihad for a massive fee of £62m.
And since Dias’ arrival, City’s defense has looked basically watertight. In the six matches that he’s appeared in, they’ve conceded just three goals. And he already seems to be forming an understanding with the highly-rated Aymeric Laporte.
A physical, no-nonsense defender, Dias will have to be at his best this weekend. Tottenham have one of the Premier League’s most dangerous attacks. And even if Harry Kane and Son Heung-min aren’t firing on all cylinders, City will also need to deal with the likes of Gareth Bale, Steven Bergwijn, and Lucas Moura.
But if Dias and his fellow defenders can keep Tottenham’s attack quiet, then the game could be there for the taking for City. And if they do win, the Portuguese international will certainly receive plenty of plaudits.
#4 Serge Aurier (Tottenham)
With Matt Doherty sidelined following his positive COVID-19 test. At the same time, on international duty with Ireland, Tottenham boss Jose Mourinho may be forced to deploy Serge Aurier at right-back in this game.
The very idea of this might give Tottenham fans nightmares. Aurier played against City in February and had an absolute stinker, making a number of errors and conceding a penalty for a late challenge on Sergio Aguero. Tottenham eventually won the game, but it was despite the Ivorian’s performance, not because of it.
However, Aurier has seen a dramatic improvement since 2020-21 began. He had perhaps his greatest performance in a Tottenham shirt in his side’s 1-6 win over Manchester United. And he has yet to show glimpses of the rashness that has plagued his game throughout his time in North London.
But if he does start on Saturday, it should be his toughest test to date. He’ll likely come up against one of Phil Foden, Ferran Torres, Riyad Mahrez, or Bernardo Silva. All four are the kind of players that need attention throughout the game – meaning Aurier cannot simply attempt cavalier runs down the right flank.
And he’ll also need to be careful in the tackle, particularly inside the box. With VAR causing so many issues this season, the last thing Tottenham need is to give away a penalty in this game.
Aurier can affect this game in a positive way if he can play as he did against United. However, any slip back to his previous form and City could find plenty of inroads against him.
#5 Phil Foden (Manchester City)
2020-21 was always supposed to be the season that would see Phil Foden make a proper breakthrough at Manchester City. Seen as the heir apparent to David Silva, when the Spaniard departed in the summer, Foden was expected to step into his role as chief playmaker.
Things haven’t quite followed that plan. Foden has been awarded plenty of minutes thus far – he’s appeared in six of City’s seven games – but Pep Guardiola’s men now largely turn to Kevin De Bruyne for their creative spark.
Foden has instead been used in more of an attacking role, either centrally or from a wide area. And it was from that wide area that he excelled for England this week, tormenting Iceland and scoring his first two senior international goals.
The 20-year-old also has history against Tottenham – he scored the winner against them in April 2019. And with some question marks still hanging over Tottenham’s defense, particularly in terms of pace, Foden could definitely do some damage this weekend.
And if he can provide Guardiola’s men with a victory over a high-flying side like Tottenham? Then his importance to City’s title challenge this season won’t be questioned.
