Following three straight defeats, Tottenham Hotspur face an impossible task trying to stop the rot as Antonio Conte takes his troops to Etihad Stadium for a clash with Manchester City.
City are tied with Liverpool for the best scoring record in the league and bookmaker William Hill has the odds at 2.00 for them to score in both halves. The odds are at 8.00 for Tottenham to get a goal in both halves.
※ Current Odds Date & Time: February 18th, 2:30 P.M. (EST)
Conte had a lot of success during his first few weeks in charge of the Spurs but his rebuilding job has suffered a major blow in recent weeks. A defeat against Chelsea was very hard to avoid, but Tottenham should’ve done a lot better in their most recent outings against Southampton and Wolves.
The Lilywhites are now in danger of losing four consecutive league games for the first time since 2004-05. With City looking unstoppable, it’s going to take a very special performance to avoid another loss.
Tottenham’s improvement has to start at the back. The team has conceded seven goals during the current three-game losing streak and Conte has to find a way to tighten things up again. The defensive numbers were just fine during the start of his era as the Spurs gave up only six goals in their first nine Premier League fixtures under Conte.
The drop in form has coincided with the absence of Eric Dier. The England international has battled thigh problems and he’s missed three of the last four league games.
Dier’s ability has been questioned by many but the stats show that he’s a very important piece for Tottenham. The Spurs have won 53.6 percent of league matches this season with him in the lineup and only 33.3 percent of the games without him. The average points tally with him has been at 1.7 and at just 1.0 without him.
It appears that Dier is ready to return to action on Saturday and his addition could be key for Tottenham in the very difficult match-up.
Southampton recently squeezed out a 1-1 draw against City but it’s the only time Pep Guardiola’s men have dropped any points in their last 15 league matches.
It’s very difficult to score against the defending champions and City make scoring look very easy. They are already on the cusp of getting 100 goals for the season across all competitions and it’s going to be only their 38th outing of the campaign on Saturday.
The Spurs have shocked City with three wins in the past four league meetings between the two, but the clashes at Etihad rarely tend to end up well for them. City have lost just one of their last 12 home games in the match-up.
