Premier League: City face critical test in title defence

The weekend sees the return of Premier League action, and ‘thank god’ will be the response of many Irish football fans.

A creditable home win over Finland was rather squandered in the that horrible second-half collapse to England in Wembley. So now we get the relief of watching the management of club teams squirm under pressure of indifferent results in the Premier League.

As it happens, this weekend’s round of league games may have a big impact if not season-defining influence on the outcome in May.  With Man City’s encounter today against Tottenham Hotspur a potential tester for the champions.

Top-of-the-table Liverpool are not playing until tomorrow, so it offers an opportunity for the chasing pack to close the gap on them. The league leaders face bottom place Southampton in the 2pm game on Sunday, on the south coast, and will be expected to come away with the maximum points. Of course, in the Premier League, we are all familiar with the situation of the side beating all their title challengers at the top of the table only to fumble what seems like the easy task of getting by the side that has only won one game so far this season.

Liverpool have been particularly adept at this over the years, especially when coming back from the distraction and travel of an international break. They still will be expected to see-off the Saints, so their rivals will need to claim full points today in order to maintain their pressure on the Merseysiders.

Closing gap

It’s a task easier said than done, with Man City facing the always enigmatic Tottenham Hotspur in this evening’s game at 5.30pm, while fourth-place Arsenal host the greatest surprise package of the season Nottingham Forest at the 3pm kick-off.

Gunner fans would have looked at this fixture at the start of the season as a sure-fire three points in the bag. But as Forest has shown so far this season, they are a side not to be trifled with, being the only side in Europe so far to have claimed a win against Liverpool, while also claiming some notable scalps along the way to put them in contention for a Champions League spot. Their heavy defeat at the hands of Newcastle last time out, however, may be a sign that their dream run may be coming to an end. Mikel Arteta will be hoping so this evening at the Emirates.

The quietly climbing third-place side, Chelsea are away to Leicester City in today’s early afternoon's opener at the King Power Stadium. Offering Enzo Maresca’s charges a good chance of their own of closing the four-point gap on Man City in second.

Pep in his step

Pep Guardiola will be hoping to celebrate the one-year extension to his contract with City with a victory over Spurs this evening. The deal sees the Catalan stay in Eastlands until at least the summer of 2026 but maybe the desire for a win this evening will be driven more by the unfamiliar prospect of him not wanting to tack on a fifth defeat in a row to his record run of defeats, even more so than successfully negotiating a contract extension.

At least in Pep’s favour is the fact that the game is at home, as City have found away games against Spurs rather more difficult, with a few notable defeats in London including last month’s 2-1 humbling of City in the Carabao Cup. City are a lot more comfortable at home but have stumbled on occasions in the league against the Cockerels. Most recently being the 2-3 defeat in Eastland back in February of 2022.

Which Spurs?

The question for Spurs fans will be, as usual, which Spurs side will turn up for boss Ange Postecoglou? Will it be the imperious performers that ran in four goals to one against a very good Aston Villa side at the start of the month, or the lethargic and uninspired rabble a week later in the 2-1 defeat at the hands of the plucky but also very lowly Ipswich Town?

Whichever Spurs side turns up, Pep and City will feel that this is a must-win engagement, as their coming fixtures list offers little consolation of an easy victory in the coming days. The ‘Cityzens’ face a midweek Champions League match against Arne Slot’s old side Feynoord, followed by maybe the match of the season away in Anfield to Slot’s current team Liverpool. After that, they face the now not so easy prospect of facing Arsenal opponents this weekend, Nottingham Forest. With the Manchester derby against United just two-weeks later.

United are an unknown entity now and who knows what form they will be under their new boss Ruben Amorim by the time the sides meet in mid-December. No resting on the laurels of a newly signed contract for Pep.