Manchester City are taking on Tottenham Hotspur in one of the biggest games of the Premier League season so far -and BBC pundit Chris Sutton has now given his score prediction.
Pep Guardiola takes his players to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and the objective is very simple.
City need to win their game in hand to leapfrog Arsenal into first place in the table and go two clear of the Gunners ahead of the final day on Sunday.
Winning tonight is paramount, because Arsenal have a very good chance of beating Everton at home on Sunday.
Ideally, City need to get their noses in front. But standing in the way of three points are a Spurs team who have proven to be something of a bogey side in recent times.
But City did win the FA Cup meeting at Spurs’ ground earlier this year, so hopefully the players won’t be affected by any ‘curse’ this evening…
Chris Sutton drops verdict ahead of Tottenham vs Man City and makes score prediction
The pre-match talk around this game has certainly been interesting.
Obviously, Spurs’ big rivals are Arsenal, who are fighting City for the title.
Some Spurs fans are actually wanting to see their side lose tonight, as it would put City firmly in the driving seat to win the title ahead of the Gunners.
Spurs are now unlikely to finish in the top four after Aston Villa drew with Liverpool on Monday night. Some supporters are therefore not opposed to seeing their side drop points tonight.
But Ange Postecoglou was adamant in his press conference that his side won’t be going anything less than 100% tonight, and will be going for the win.
In the eyes of Chris Sutton though, the north Londoners will come up short. He reckons City will get the job done fairly comfortably.
Predicting a 3-1 away win, the pundit told BBC Sport: “I don’t see any jeopardy for City here. They are too good for everyone, and they are just a machine when it comes to getting results when it matters.
“If Arsenal were in their situation, going into the games City have this week, I’d be a lot less confident. You’d think ‘well, you never know’, but because City have been there and done it so many times before, I just don’t see them slipping up. That’s why I don’t think anyone other than City fans are that excited about this game, or the title race.
“I’ve seen enough of Ange Postecoglou’s teams to know what Tottenham could do if they click. But they have been inconsistent recently and I don’t sense they will be at their best here.
“With what’s at stake for City, and the way they have put their foot down in the past few weeks, I feel like they will always be in control of this game. I fancy them strongly to win, and it should be pretty comfortable.”
Fellow pundit Paul Merson also cannot look past a win for City tonight, despite hoping for a Spurs win being ex-Arsenal.
A huge test for Manchester City
People always point to City having been there before, and having experience of winning titles.
But this could be a really hard game tonight, with Spurs having obviously been a thorn in Pep’s side over the years, especially down in north London.
Arsenal have done really well to keep this level of pressure on City, and we will see how the players handle it tonight.
With City having gone out of the Champions League last month, there almost feels a bit of additional pressure now to get this fourth straight title sewn up. And what a major and unprecedented achievement that would be.