Guardiola Hopes to Break Tottenham Stadium’s Jinx as City Visit Spurs

Having lost all four of his previous visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and knowing Manchester City could be eight points behind Arsenal before his team’s cracker with Tottenham, Pep Guardiola would be hoping that he could break the new White Hart Lane’s jinx for a chance to keep track of the Gunners for the Premier League title race

Just over two weeks on from playing out a six-goal thriller at the Etihad, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City renew hostilities in tomorrow’s Premier League clash in North London. Both teams progressed to the fifth round of the FA Cup last weekend, as Spurs eased past Preston North End 3-0, while the Citizens edged 14-time winners Arsenal 1-0.

Thoughts will be spared for Antonio Conte this week, as the Tottenham boss cedes control of the reins to Cristian Stellini, following an operation to remove his gallbladder, having experienced “severe abdominal pain” following last weekend’s FA Cup win over Preston.

Prior to returning to his native Italy to go under the knife, Conte, who could reportedly take up a seat in the director’s box for this game if he is well enough to travel witnessed Son Heung-min net a brace alongside a debut goal for Arnaut Danjuma in a comfortable Deepdale success.

Success in the cup followed a hard-earned Premier League triumph over London rivals Fulham – courtesy of Harry Kane’s record-equalling 266th Tottenham goal, but the Lilywhites are still playing catch-up in the Champions League race, currently sitting fifth and three points worse off than Newcastle United and Manchester United, both of whom have a game in hand.

Now seeking to win three successive matches on the bounce for the first time since October, Tottenham suffered defeat immediately after back-to-back wins in November and January, and home has not been a fortress for the Lilywhites recently.

Indeed, four of Spurs’ last five Premier League games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium have ended in defeat – conceding at least twice in all of those fixtures.

Finally pitting their wits against the only team in the land to have out-performed them in the 2022-23 campaign, Man City were nullified by Arsenal in the first half of their FA Cup fourth-round heavyweight tie, but Mikel Arteta would ultimately experience another miserable return to the Etihad.

A sublime finish from Nathan Ake was enough to send Man City through to the fifth round at the Gunners’ expense, but the reigning Premier League champions still have plenty of work to do when it comes to usurping Arteta’s runaway leaders at the top of the table.

Ending a minor goal drought, the only way he knows how, Erling Braut Haaland’s fourth hat-trick of the season put Wolverhampton Wanderers to the sword 3-0 two weekends ago, but Guardiola’s men remain five points behind Arsenal, who have a game in hand after the Gunners left it late to beat Manchester United.

A trio of home wins may have come Man City’s way, but the champions travel to North London having lost each of their last two away contests to Southampton and Manchester United, and Guardiola has remarkably lost all four of his previous visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – at no other ground does the Catalan coach have a worse record.

A seething Guardiola also tore into his players after their 4-2 win over Spurs in January – where Conte’s side got into half-time with a 2-0 advantage before the Riyad Mahrez-inspired fightback and Tottenham will even have the support of the red side of North London, for a couple of hours at most, in their bid to right the wrongs of the Etihad encounter.

Experiencing the true definition of a baptism of fire, Sean Dyche takes charge of Everton for the first time at today’s showdown with leaders Arsenal.

Eighteen places and 35 points separate the two sides at opposite ends of the Premier League table, as the Gunners aim to extend their lead at the summit to eight points.

Dyche undoubtedly inherits a poisoned chalice at Goodison Park, where disgruntled fans have been making their feelings clear for some time now.

Selling starboy Anthony Gordon and failing to bring in a single new face in the January transfer window has hardly helped matters either, as Dyche takes over with the Toffees sitting 19th in the rankings, but a shock win over Arsenal could see the hosts rise above the dotted line if results elsewhere go their way.

While Dyche has been handed a whole list of things to fix at Everton, first on the agenda will be trying to snap a four-game losing run in all competitions, and their winless streak now stands at 10 games since a 3-0 win over London opposition in Crystal Palace on October 22.

The Toffees’ Premier League losing streak at Goodison Park also stands at four matches, but they have at least managed to find the back of the net in their last three home contests, and Arsenal fans have painful memories of the blue half of Merseyside from the past couple of years.

Despite some bright moments, Arsenal’s magical start to the season would not extend to a rare win over the reigning champions at the Etihad in last week’s fourth-round FA Cup battle.

With only the Premier League and Europa League to focus on for the remainder of the campaign, some Gooners have welcomed their early cup eliminations as they endeavour to steer eight points clear of Man City – who do not play until tomorrow.

The 50-point Gunners, who have a game in hand on Man City, are on course to match the Citizens’ centurions of 2017-18 should they continue in the same vein, and they enter today’s game unbeaten in 13 top-flight matches, having earned a slice of revenge over Manchester United at the Emirates two weeks ago following their Old Trafford defeat.

Six of Arsenal’s last seven Premier League games away from home have also ended in victory, and Arteta’s men ended the 2021-22 season with a 5-1 thumping of the Toffees in North London, but they have lost each of their last two against Everton at Goodison Park and may be fearing a classic new manager bounce here.