Tottenham Hotspur host Manchester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in a blockbuster Fourth Round tie in 2023-24 FA Cup.
Victory would see Tottenham reach the Fifth Round for a fifth consecutive season, whilst Man City seek to move beyond this stage for a ninth straight campaign.
Team News
Ryan Sessegnon could return for Tottenham after he missd their 2-2 draw at Manchester United in the Premier League with a thigh injury.
Ben Davies, Dane Scarlett (both hamstring), James Maddison (ankle) and Dejan Kulusevski (illness) are all back in training, and the former trio could be in contention for a spot on the bench whilst Kulusevski is expected to start.
Giovani Lo Celso (hamstring), Manor Solomon, Alejo Veliz (both knee), Yves Bissouma, Pape Matar Sarr and Son Heung-min (all international duty) remain ruled out.
Man City will have goalkeeper, Ederson back in contention after he suffered a knock in their eventual comeback win at Newcastle in the Premier League.
John Stones (ankle) could feature but Manuel Akanji (knock) and Erling Haaland (foot) remain absent.
When is Kick-Off?
Tottenham host Man City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Friday 26 January at 8pm GMT, live on ITV1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Tottenham are unbeaten in nine of their 14 previous FA Cup matches against Man City across 11 ties (W6, D3, L5).
- Man City are playing Tottenham at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in the FA Cup for the first time, but won one of four such trips at Spurs’ former home – White Hart Lane (W1, D1, L2).
- Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens have lost all five previous trips to Spurs’ current home – Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – without scoring (L5), during which they conceded seven goals.
- Spurs are unbeaten in five of their last seven FA Cup ties at home to top-flight opposition (W3, D2, L2).
- Man City are unbeaten in eight of their last nine FA Cup ties away to top-flight opposition (W8, L1).
Prediction
Having twice fought back against Man Utd with some clinical pieces of attacking play amidst moments of sloppy defensive marking for both conceded goals, Tottenham will be happy to have had nearly a fortnight to prepare for this match despite staying at home.
Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs though can’t afford to start this game like they did against Man Utd because if they do, they could well need their attack to dig them out again despite having not conceded at their current home against Man City.
As for Pep Guardiola’s Cityzens, they were lucky to beat Newcastle because for all of their dominant attacking play, they often lacked much end product until Kevin De Bruyne came on and defensively were exposed by Newcastle’s counter-attacking play.
City though should be motivated for this game because I can’t imagine that they would want another early domestic cup exit this season, whilst the fact that their poor record at this stadium will provide additional desire to get something.
Spurs however do have Maddison back and even though he will likely start on the bench, he could well be an impact substitute but I do fancy City to at least end their run of failing to score here and possibly get the tie back to Manchester for a replay.
Prediction: Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Manchester City
Result: Tottenham Hotspur 0-1 Manchester City
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