Fourth place will potentially be decided after this game at Eastlands.
Tottenham could guarantee fourth spot with a win over their near rivals. They currently a point ahead of Manchester City with just two matches left to play and so victory here will see them build an unassailable lead of four points.
For City, this is a must-win game as anything other than that will see them hand over Champions League football to Harry Redknapp's men. Victory will put the home side two points ahead of Tottenham and then they will just need to win their last game at West Ham to clinch fourth spot.
Last week, Roberto Mancini's men beat Aston Villa 3-1 at the City of Manchester Stadium to put the Claret and Blues out of the running for the coveted Champions League place. Liverpool's loss to Chelsea meant it is now just a two-horse race between City and Spurs.
City has lost just 1 game in their last 6, to near rivals Manchester United. They have only lost 2 games in the whole season at Eastlands, and will be hoping to pull off a famous victory on Wednesday night.
Tottenham, on the other hand, beat Bolton Wanderers 1-0 at the weekend. Tom Huddlestone scored the winner on that occasion. They have led the race for fourth for a long time now, but two defeats in the month of April saw City gain some ground.
Spurs have already been in this position before, when they were just a whisker away from gaining fourth spot in 2006. They led the race all they way, before a loss on the final day of the season at Upton Park saw Arsenal take home the accolade. Midfielder Jermaine Jenas said in interview recently that he never wants to have that feeling in him again.
Manchester City team-news:
Gareth Barry, who missed the game at the weekend against his former club, is all set tp return after recovering from a hamstring problem.
Joleon Lescott was recently ruled out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury, while Stephen Ireland will also sit out this game with an ankle problem.
Tottenham Hotspur team-news:
Centre-half and captain Ledley King, who suffers from a long-standing knee injury, played the game against Bolton but is a major doubt for this one.
Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes injured his muscle in the win at on Saturday and is unlikely to feature at Eastlands. Ben Alnwick is set to replace the Brazilian in goal.
When these two sides met earlier in the season at White Hart Lane, the Lilywhites ran out 3-0 winners, with Nico Kranjcar scoring 2. This also turned out to be one of the last games in the Mark Hughes era, as the Welshman was sacked just a few days later.
Man City: Nielsen, Fulop, Onuoha, Richards, Kay, Boyata, Kompany, Toure, Bridge, Garrido, Sylvinho, Adam Johnson, Cunningham, Zabaleta, De Jong, Barry, Vieira, Bellamy, Wright-Phillips, Tevez, Santa Cruz, Adebayor, Ibrahim, Nimely.
Tottenham: Gomes, Dawson, King, Assou-Ekotto, Bale, Kaboul, Huddlestone, Bentley, Lennon, Modric, Pavlyuchenko Gudjohnsen, Defoe, Crouch, Jenas, Alnwick, Palacios, Bassong, Walker, Rose, Livermore.
My Prediction:
Manchester City at home has been brilliant this season, while Spurs have failed dismally against the top clubs away from White Hart Lane.
A narrow for the Blues from Manchester to take them into fourth place.
Manchester City 2-1 Tottenham Hostpur
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Source: Football Blog
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
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