Haaland returns as City make four changes for Spurs | OneFootball

Erling Haaland has been named in City's side to face Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this evening.

The Norwegian hasn't featured in our last two matches after suffering a knee injury late on in the recent victory over Newcastle United.

However, he's one of four players who missed Sunday's defeat to Liverpool to come into the side for tonight's trip to north London.

Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias and Mateo Kovacic also step into the XI, with Rico Lewis, Nathan Ake, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden dropping to the bench.

After failing to score on our first four Premier League trips to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since its opening, we registered a vital 2-0 victory at this ground last term to leave us just one win from the title.

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Teams

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Khusanov, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Nico, Kovacic, Savinho, Marmoush, Doku, Haaland

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Ake, Grealish, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Bernardo, Foden, Lewis, McAtee

Tactics

A back four will protect Ederson's goal. Matheus Nunes looks likely to reprise his hybrid role across right-back and central midfield, with Josko Gvardiol full-back on the opposite side. Captain Ruben Dias will play alongside Abdukodir Khusanov, who will be hoping to build on his excellent showing against Liverpool.

Nico and Mateo Kovacic will be in central midfield, with Savinho and Jeremy Doku out on the wings in support of strikers Omar Marmoush and Erling Haaland.

Strike partnership

The last time Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush started together, the Egyptian scored a first-half hat-trick.

So Marmoush will no doubt be delighted to see our No.9 return to the side this evening as the pair continue to work on their blossoming partnership.

Haaland didn't score in that win over Newcastle, but very much remains the main threat for every opposition defence.

He's just one strike away from netting his tenth away goal of the Premier League season, which would make him only the second player ever to score 10+ home goals and 10+ away goals in three consecutive campaigns.

He also already has six goals in London this season, with only former Leeds man Tony Yeboah doing better for non-London sides in a single campaign (eight in 1995/96).

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Match stats

●      Following their 4-0 win the reverse fixture, Spurs are looking to do the league double over City for the first time since 2021-22. They last did so without conceding in 2009-10.

●      Having lost our first four Premier League games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without scoring a single goal, City won this exact fixture 2-0 last season.

●      Spurs have beaten Manchester City twice and Manchester United three times in all competitions this season – no team has ever beaten both Manchester sides three times each in the same campaign before.

●      Spurs have won their last three Premier League games, as many as they had in their previous 15 (D2 L10). They last won four in a row in September/October 2023.

●      Son Heung-min has provided nine assists for Spurs in the Premier League this season, including two for Brennan Johnson in their 4-1 win against Ipswich last time out. Only in 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2023/24 has he provided more in a single campaign in the competition (10 each time).

●    Erling Haaland is one away goal away from scoring 10+ home goals and 10+ away goals in three different Premier League campaigns (also 2022/23 and 2023/24). The only player to have ever done so in three consecutive seasons is Harry Kane (2015-16 to 2017-18).

●     Haaland has scored six goals in five Premier League games in London this season. In the competition’s history, only Leeds’ Tony Yeboah has scored more in the capital in a single campaign among players to play for non-London sides (eight in 1995/96).