Tottenham handed advantage ahead of FA Cup clash vs Manchester City as Pep Guardiola rules Erling Haaland out
Tottenham will need every advantage they can get when they host Manchester City in the fourth round of the FA Cup on Friday 26 January.
Spurs and City will face off in what promises to be an exciting encounter with a place in the fifth round of England’s oldest cup competition up for grabs.
It is always a fascinating occasion when these two teams meet, with City somehow yet to score or pick up any points at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium despite five visits to the ground.
Pep Guardiola will be hoping to end that miserable record on his sixth trip to the stadium but will be without his main goalscorer, Erling Haaland, news which will come much to the delight of Ange Postecoglou.
Haaland has been out of action since early December, and speaking ahead of the match against Spurs his manager confirmed that he will once again miss out.
Guardiola told the media when asked about the status of the 23-year-old, “Tomorrow he is still not ready but he is close”, (via Sam Lee on X, 25 January).
If Postecoglou and his players hope to continue Spurs’ impressive record of having not conceded a goal against City in North London since 2018, Haaland missing out certainly helps.
It goes without saying that the Norway international is one of, if not the best, strikers in Europe, with his form showing no signs of slowing down this season after his incredible breakthrough year in the Premier League.
Having paid a total package of £85.5million to bring the striker to Manchester from Borussia Dortmund (Sky Sports News, 13 June 2022) expectations for Haaland were high, and he certainly did not disappoint.
If anything, he exceeded those expectations as he broke countless records across his debut season in England, scoring 52 goals and providing nine assists across all competitions, spearheading City’s treble-winning campaign.
Haaland picked up where he left off last season, scoring 14 league goals in his first 13 matches this term.
As per fbref, he unsurprisingly ranks in the top one per cent of his positional peers in England’s top flight for the number of goals he has scored in the competition this season (0.97 per 90), while he also sits in the top six per cent for his total number of shots (3.76 per 90) and shots on target (1.81 per 90).
Plenty of people like to point out that Haaland offers nothing more than his goals, although his position in the top 11 per cent of Premier League forwards for the number of assists he has provided this season (0.28 per 90) suggests that is not the case.
Haaland’s record against Spurs, since he joined City, is nothing spectacular, with just one goal in three matches against the North London outfit, although Postecoglou would still have certainly breathed a sigh of relief when he found out the goal machine wouldn’t be playing.
His last trip to London saw him score twice, register an assist and complete 91 per cent of his passes, with three of those being key, in a 4-4 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Sunday 12 November (Sofascore).
He followed this up with goals against Liverpool and RB Leipzig, demonstarting he is a player for the big occasion, and Spurs supporters will be glad that theory won’t be put to the test again tonight.
In other Tottenham news, a Spurs expert believes one forward at the club could be set to complete a “phenomenal” loan switch to another Premier League side.
For more exclusive Tottenham updates, follow us on Facebook or join our brand new WhatsApp Channel for instant updates to be sent straight to your phone.