Manchester City - Tottenham: team news and starting line-up
All the latest from the all-Premier League clash between Pep Guardiola's City and Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Man City vs Tottenham live online: Champions League
Familiar foes Manchester City and Tottenham meet again at the Etihad on Wednesday evening to play out the second leg of their first-ever Champions League knock-out tie with Mauricio Pochettino’s side holding a slender one-goal advantage from the opening match.
City will be aiming to reach the semi-finals for the second time while Spurs will be looking for their first last-four appearance in Europe’s elite club competition having reached the quarters in 2010-11 when they ran into Real Madrid.
The big news from Spurs’ point of view is Harry Kane’s absence with ligament damage to his ankle that could see him miss the remainder of the season. Pochettino has moulded another match-winner in Son Heung-min, who has been instrumental in Tottenham’s challenge on two fronts this season and who netted the winner against City a week ago.
Manchester City vs Tottenham confirmed line-ups
Man City XI: Ederson, Walker, Kompany (C), Laporte, Mendy, Gundogan, Silva, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Sterling, Aguero
Subs: Muric, Stones, Sane, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Otamendi, Jesus
Tottenham XI: Lloris (C); Trippier, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Rose; Wanyama, Sissoko; Dele, Eriksen, Son; Lucas Moura.
Subs: Gazzaniga, Sanchez, Walker-Peters , Llorente, Foyth, Davies, Skipp
Manchester City vs Tottenham: injuries and suspensions
Tottenham’s decision to barely sign a cheque in the last two seasons has come back to haunt Pochettino at the worst possible time and a lack of cover for Kane, Christian Eriksen and a strained back line will be put to the test in the Etihad. The Spurs boss is without the injured Eric Dier, Serge Aurier, Kane and Harry Winks, with Dele Alli, Erik Lamela and Fernando Llorente all facing late fitness tests.
City manager Pep Guardiola certainly has no such issues and even in the absence of Sergio Agüero, who may not recover in time from a hamstring issue, he can call Bernardo Silva, Kevin de Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus back into the side as he shuffles his deck after the weekend victory over Crystal Palace. Only Fernandinho’s availability is in doubt with the Brazilian enforcer struggling with a muscle issue. If he is not risked, Ilkay Gündogan is a perfectly adequate alternative.
Manchester City vs Tottenham: what the managers said
Pep Guardiola: "I know the people say I came here to win the Champions League. I did not come here to win the Champions League, honestly. I came here to play with my team the way we are playing in the last 20 months.To play the way we want to play. Of course I want to win the Champions League. I know at Bayern Munich, we won absolutely everything except the Champions League and it was a big failure. What can I say? I have to accept that. I have to live with that, but it is not a big, big problem. It pushes me to be better.
Mauricio Pochettino: “We need to think that it’s 0-0, that we need to do the job that we need if we want to be in the semi-finals. We are playing one of the best teams in Europe but, for me, the approach must be like it’s still 0-0 – there’s still a lot of work to do, [the tie is] so open. For me, Manchester City are still favourites but the first leg went for us and why can’t we make it possible to be in the semi-final? Only we need to believe, to fight and to play football over 90 minutes that are going to be very tough.”