Tottenham V Manchester City (13.30 - ESPN)

MagicMarker

Tottenham will look to put their turbulent start to the season behind them as they host Manchester City on Sunday.

Spurs' opening-day fixture with Everton had to be postponed due to the civil unrest in the area so Sunday's game will be their first Premier League match at home this term.

Tottenham's first game of the season was therefore a 5-0 win away to Hearts in the Europa League last week and when they did manage to get their league campaign started at Manchester United on Monday, Harry Redknapp felt it best to leave out unsettled midfielder Luka Modric.

Chelsea have seen two bids for the Croatian star turned down this summer, with Spurs insisting they will not sell, and with the transfer window almost shut, Redknapp has said he is ready to bring Modric back into action on Sunday.

His return will be a big lift for Spurs after they started their league campaign with an unlikely centre-midfield pairing of Niko Kranjcar and Jake Livermore for Monday's 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford.

By that time, City had already got their season off to a flyer, following up their 4-0 win over Swansea with a 3-2 victory at Bolton to become early leaders.

The big-spending Blues have since maintained the feelgood factor by bringing an end to another of the summer's long-running transfer sagas, securing the signing of Samir Nasri from Tottenham's local rivals Arsenal.

Spurs have been boosted by a signing of their own, with City allowing out-of-favour striker Emmanuel Adebayor to join them on a season-long loan, but he is ineligible for Sunday's game.

The two sides have been rivals for Champions League qualification over the last two campaigns, with Tottenham pipping City in 2009/10 before the roles were reversed last term.

After more big-money buys over the summer, City are setting their sights higher than just Champions League qualification, so Sunday's game will be a test of whether they are now ready to challenge for the title as White Hart Lane is a ground where they have struggled in recent years, taking just two points from their last eight league visits.

Team news

Tottenham boss Harry Redknapp will make several changes from Thursday night's Europa League game against Hearts having fielded several youngsters in the 0-0 draw.

Despite signing Adebayor in midweek, he will have to wait for his Spurs debut as he cannot face his parent club, but Redknapp has said Modric will feature.

Nasri could make his Man City bow but fellow midfielder Nigel de Jong remains out with a foot problem.

Nasri will be in competition for a starting role with James Milner, who impressed after coming in for De Jong at Bolton last week, with Yaya Toure dropping back into a holding role.

Gael Clichy could come back in for Aleksandar Kolarov at left-back to combat the pace of Aaron Lennon.

Nasri's arrival adds to the array of attacking options available to manager Roberto Mancini, but with both Edin Dzeko and record signing Sergio Aguero having scored two in two, Carlos Tevez is likely to be on the bench due to a lack of match sharpness.

Possible starting XIs:
Spurs: Friedel, Corluka, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Modric, Kranjcar, Bale, Van der Vaart, Defoe.

City: Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Barry, Y. Toure, Milner, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.

everdead.ie

Attacking line up from us today

Here's our starting XI -

---

Friedel;
Corluka, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Kranjcar, Modric, Bale;
Van der Vaart, Crouch.

Really hope we do the business today we really miss Sandro though.

dahat

Should be a half decent game..

FF interest is my main reason to watch this plus had a little on Bale at 12/1 to score first..
Spurs should improve from the last day against Utd and being at home as well leads me to fancy a score draw...........

Shammy

Should be a cracking game , i have to say i am worried with mc's line up and our central midfield line-up.

krustydoyle

Come on City:D

Yakult

Looking forward to see how City play, Spurs will give them a good fight hopefully.

JPA

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Kompany, Lescott, Clichy, Toure Yaya, Barry, Silva, Nasri, Aguero, Dzeko. Subs: Pantilimon, Richards, Milner, Johnson, Savic, Tevez, Balotelli.

krustydoyle

City Team

Hart

Zabelata Kompany Lescott Clichy

Y Toure Barry Nasri


Silva Aguero

Dzeko

LuckyLloyd

Opportunity for City to make a statement.

JPA

4-3-3 for city I would say, Nasri in front of Toure and Barry with Aguero and Nasri floating around Dzeko.

michael999999

citys team and bench are frightening, can only see this going one way after watching spurs get pulverised by united in the second half!

3-1 city

digme

everdead.ie wrote: »

Attacking line up from us today

Here's our starting XI -

---

Friedel;
Corluka, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto; Lennon, Kranjcar, Modric, Bale;
Van der Vaart, Crouch.

Really hope we do the business today we really miss Sandro though.

Thank god defoe isn't playing. He was sh!te last game.It looked like he was more interested in doing some sprints.... Crouch will do well today i'd say.

Shammy

krustydoyle wrote: »

City Team

Hart

Zabelata Kompany Lescott Clichy

Y Toure Barry


Silva Aguero Nasri

Dzeko

4-2-3-1 is city's line up , We 're not playing with any defensive midfielders .

COYs

Blatter

I thought Crouch was on his way to Stoke?

Shammy

Blatter wrote: »

I thought Crouch was on his way to Stoke?

He is supposed to be along with Wilson for 15 mill.

Jax Teller

Why not start huddlestone ?

Pyjamarama

Bright start from Spuds.

Nalz

Can this be watched online anywhere?

KittyeeTrix

City getting into this now

krustydoyle

Well fluff, hope your well..

Is it just me or is the atmosphere a bit dead??

Frisbee

Trilla wrote: »

Can this be watched online anywhere?

Sopcast 6816 is quality.

Frisbee

Great positive start from both teams so far.

krustydoyle

Ah take the shot nasri... :mad:

Kylo Ren

Frisbee wrote: »

Great positive start from both teams so far.

Yup very open game. Lets hope to see a few goals now!

Mars Bar

krustydoyle wrote: »

Well fluff, hope your well..

Is it just me or is the atmosphere a bit dead??

I think it might be the way ESPN filter the sound.

It's like someone has their finger on a volume fader and every time some gets near the box, they turn it up.

The silence is quite disconcerting...

Mars Bar

What a save!

KittyeeTrix

Nice calm defending there:)


Ooooooh close!!!!

MagicMarker

Is Bale even playing?

Mars Bar

MagicMarker wrote: »

Is Bale even playing?

Good question. He was completely anonymous against United too.

KittyeeTrix

MagicMarker wrote: »

Is Bale even playing?

I honestly couldn't tell ya!!!!!!

Good save hart:D

Balfie

thank god its fridel in goal, if that was gomes I can only imagine the score.

Great effort by vdv just there.

Nalz

mars bar wrote: »

Good question. He was completely anonymous against United too.

as was Lennon second half! Odd and frustrating team to follow I'd imagine

Shammy

Trilla wrote: »

as was Lennon second half! Odd and frustrating team to follow I'd imagine

dont i know it

KittyeeTrix

Crouch, the sly thing:(

Balfie

frustration isn't the word.. We need someone to excite us in the team, like bale did in the champions league last season. No one was expecting it, paired that with vdv it was great to watch. Now we have dull an duller.

parc

anyone got a non sopcast link to this?

mypemimun tv isn't working well either

Mars Bar

Lol at Phil Dowd throwing his hands in the air!

KittyeeTrix

Jesus, O'Dowd is happy out flashing the yellow cards

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

Mars Bar

And Bale misses a golden opportunity!

Shammy

What a chance !!!!!!

KittyeeTrix

Meant Dowd........ Was thinking of my next door neighbours.... Haha:D

krustydoyle

Shammy wrote: »

What a chance !!!!!!

What a miss:eek::p

Frisbee

That's atrocious.

Headshot

mars bar wrote: »

Lol at Phil Dowd throwing his hands in the air!

like he just dont care

Kylo Ren

I hate being behind on Sky Player! Just saw the Bale chance now :P

Balfie

go to tvembed for the stream, click on flash 2, if that's not good, use a different one, usually the one that needs the veetle player is hd. I'm on my phone so can't link.

Nalz

fluffyorganic1 wrote: »

Crouch, the sly thing:(

what happened?

101001

just starting to watch. can anyone give me a synopsis on how tottenham are doing

Kylo Ren

Trilla wrote: »

what happened?

He clipped Silva a while back. No biggie.

krustydoyle

What is jamie redknapp doing putting his kid in a blue shirt and green jeans :pac: