Arsenal centre-back William Saliba has had his say about whether he thinks Tottenham Hotspur will try their best to defeat Manchester City.
However, Dejan Kulusevski revealed that the Spurs players are determined to beat City and have no intention of spoiling Arsenal’s potential title party.
Tottenham have an encouraging record against Manchester City in the two sides’ last 10 meetings in the Premier League — five wins, three defeats and two draws.
Saliba discusses whether Tottenham will try to defeat City
On paper, one would give Pep Guardiola’s men the advantage in such a game.
Especially when City have won seven consecutive games in the league while Spurs have won two and lost five during the same period.
However, the Lilywhites can be considered the Sky Blues’ bogey team over the years, especially considering they also knocked them out of the Champions League in 2019.
William Saliba does believe Tottenham will try their level best to defeat Manchester City.
Saliba told The Standard: “They will try to win.”
“Their fans don’t want them to win against City but they are good competitors, so they will try their best to win.”
William Saliba added that the hope of gaining Champions League qualification will motivate Tottenham to go for a win against Manchester City.
“I don’t think [it changes anything for the Tottenham Hotspur players] because they want to play in the Champions League next season.”
“Tottenham is a very good team. Our games with them were not easy. I hope they will be at their best. All the team will be Tottenham fans on Tuesday. Let’s pray for Tuesday.”
“I hope it will be a good week. We did our job today. We have another job next week and let’s see what happens.”
“Any team can beat any team.”
The Frenchman concluded, “I lived it in various scenarios in the last day when a lot of teams have necessities. The margin of respect everybody puts in the games is phenomenal. We know we need a result.”
City will need one of their centre-backs to step up like Saliba against Man United
Speaking of William Saliba, in our view, one of the Manchester City defenders will need to step up to the plate against Tottenham like he did against Manchester United.
The 23-year-old put in a typically dominant display at the back for Arsenal, who managed to defend a 1-0 lead to beat United at Old Trafford.
Pep Guardiola will need one of Ruben Dias, John Stones or Manuel Akanji to fare in a similar way to keep Spurs’ dangerous attack at bay.
In games of such importance, top centre-backs tend to stand tall and make themselves counted.
If the likes of Dias and Stones do so in particular against Tottenham, their status as potential club legends will further be cemented.