English Premier
2025-08-23 - Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 23rd August 2025 - Kick Off 12:30pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester City
There are three leading contenders to win the English Premier League this season and Pep Guardiola's Manchester City impressed the most on the opening weekend. Bigger tests will come compared to what Wolves offered on Saturday evening, but the performance will have been very encouraging for all associated with Manchester City as they prepare for the home opener.
Plenty of people may have revised their opinion about Manchester City after the win at Molineux, but Guardiola and his squad will have expected to bounce back after what was an underwhelming campaign. The away form had let Manchester City down last time around so the win at Wolves will have given the squad a boost. At the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City finished with a 13-3-3 record and only Liverpool earned more home points.
Manchester City have won 6 of their last 7 games in all competitions since losing the FA Cup Final against Crystal Palace, although the exception was a disappointing Second Round exit at the Club World Cup. The side pushed their way into the top four last season and Manchester City won the last 5 Premier League games played in front of the home supporters.
Ederson missed out with an illness last Saturday and is hoping to be involved, despite being linked with a move away. Phil Foden is another hoping to be involved, but Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic and Savinho are doubts. Rodri was expected to be out until after the September international break, but could be in the squad.
Tottenham Hotspur
The experiences and successes that Thomas Frank had with Brentford earned him the opportunity to take over as manager of Tottenham Hotspur and early results will offer encouragement to the fans. They might have eventually been beaten by Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup, but Tottenham Hotspur gave as good as they got before losing on Penalties, while they were pretty well balance in the 3-0 win over Burnley.
His predecessor had been criticised for leaving Tottenham Hotspur very open defensively and so the opening couple of performances will certainly have impressed those critics. Thomas Frank is an intelligent manager and he will know that this fixture on Saturday is another big test for his new set of players, especially as Tottenham Hotspur finished with a 5-2-12 away record last season.
Tottenham Hotspur ended the last campaign with 6 losses in the final 7 Premier League games, and only earned a single point in that run, and so it was important to start this season with a positive 3-0 win against a newly promoted club. The away form in this Division was really poor and Spurs have lost 5 of their last 6 on their travels in the Premier League.
Destiny Udogie and Yves Bissouma are both hoping to shake off injuries to take their place in the travelling squad. There are still some real hopes that Tottenham Hotspur will be adding to the depth in the transfer market and potentially new faces will also be available for selection, most notably Eberechi Eze.
Head to Head
It might have been a difficult Premier League season for Tottenham Hotspur, but arguably the most notable result was winning 0-4 at the Etihad Stadium in November 2024.
Manchester City have won 1 of their last 4 home games against Spurs.
Prediction
Starting any campaign with a victory will clearly go a long way to making fans dream of what is to come, while winning as well as Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur did will raise some expectations.
However, both Pep Guardiola and Thomas Frank may see this second fixture as one that will offer them much more insight into where the respective teams currently stand.
Wins over Wolves and Burnley are solid opening victories, but both of those clubs could end up fighting against relegation barring significant transfer activity.
With that in mind, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur fans will have expected to see wins from those matches, even if the teams put those opponents to the sword.
This Saturday lunchtime kick off will be expected to be much tougher all around for both teams and it is a chance for the players to put down an early marker for the standard to be set.
Manchester City are strong favourites being at home, but they have only won 1 of their last 4 home games against Tottenham Hotspur. Even that victory was in a game they were trailing 0-2 at half time, while Spurs were 0-4 winners here last season.
Pep Guardiola will be the first to admit the challenges he has had facing Thomas Frank's Brentford and you have to believe the new Tottenham Hotspur manager will have a game plan that can cause problems for the hosts again. His Brentford team were never beaten easily by Manchester City and the stronger players at his disposal should allow Thomas Frank to produce a plan that will disrupt the hosts and give Spurs every chance of keeping this one more competitive than the layers may feel.
8 of the 13 Premier League wins produced by Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium were by two or more goals, but half were against teams that finished in the bottom half. They showed last week that there is a confidence in the squad that could see Manchester City pull away if they score early, but Tottenham Hotspur are going to offer a lot more threat going forward and Thomas Frank's experiences of facing Manchester City can add to the successes Spurs have had against this opponent.
This does feel like a significant test for both clubs and the feeling is that Tottenham Hotspur will be able to find a way to hurt the hosts from set pieces and counter attacking with speed. Scoring once may be enough to avoid a comfortable defeat and so backing Tottenham Hotspur with a start on the Asian Handicap looks the sensible approach to take.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur
