It’s hardly a packed midweek programme but there is plenty riding on the Premier League and FA Cup action. Jurgen Klopp, Antonio Conte, Pep Guardiola and Jesse Marsch could all use a boost…
Game to watch – Manchester City v Tottenham
Just what Tottenham need after that: a trip to the champions, one of two meetings with City in their next three games.
Amid the misery of derby defeat, there is some cause for optimism ahead of those matches against Pep Guardiola’s men. Tottenham beat City twice last season. But if somehow they rally themselves to repeat that trick they risk serving Arsenal the title on a plate. If Spurs win, they lose.
Not that Antonio Conte can or would think of it that way. The consolation to take from Sunday is that Arsenal are no longer on their radar this season. Both derbies have been played and lost; now Conte’s only focus is salvaging something from a season so Spursy. And perhaps his job – in the short term at least – since there appears little to f*ck all chance that the Italian will remain at his post for next season.
Conte said he was ‘not disappointed’ with the performance against Arsenal, but it was a display that must have infuriated the manager. Spurs had no control over any part of the game, even in the second half when, as they so often do, Spurs belatedly turned up. By then, the second coat of red was already drying over north London.
Perhaps this game comes at a bad time for City too. They are also coming off the back of a derby defeat, and other managers would doubtless attribute that to a refereeing injustice. But Pep won’t.
City have managed one shot on target in their last two matches, which is the kind of statistic that will keep Guardiola awake at night between the derby and welcoming Spurs. After exiting the Carabao Cup at Southampton last week, skipper Ilkay Gundogan acknowledged that “something’s off”. He elaborated: “At the minute, there’s a special recipe missing. Performances, the desire and hunger is not as in recent years.”
The concern for Guardiola is that it is not just one ingredient missing. At St Mary’s it was their mentality. At Old Trafford, it was a lack of potency up front. Guardiola felt the first problem was remedied at the weekend. Now we wait to see how he fixes the second.
READ: Manchester City stutters leave Pep Guardiola facing a conflation of questions
Team to watch – Liverpool
As poor as City have been, they certainly haven’t been as wretched…
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