Tottenham vs Manchester City Prediction

The headline tie of the FA Cup fourth round takes place on Friday night. Here, we look ahead to it with our Tottenham vs Manchester City prediction and preview.

One of the Premier League’s big-hitters will fall at the FA Cup fourth round stage, as Tottenham host current holders Manchester City in what is the second successive Friday night tie for the Londoners. They’ll be hoping for a similar result to their Friday-held round three tie when they edged past Burnley 1-0, and given Spurs have won three of the last five H2Hs they’ve hosted by the same scoreline, maybe that isn’t a far-fetched possibility.

History would suggest Spurs may fall on the right side of tight margins here, given they’ve advanced beyond the fourth round in each of the last four campaigns. A continued selection headache promises to make their task all the more challenging here, with no fewer than seven first-team players likely to miss the first FA Cup meeting between these two sides since 2004.

That 2004 clash is a famous one in City’s history, with it being remembered as the game when they were 3-0 down at half-time with ten men but rallied after the break to win 4-3. That game also came in the fourth round, but despite the fact that match came almost 20 years ago, and in Spurs’ old stadium, it may prove to be a source of motivation for Pep Guardiola’s side who have never won, or even scored a goal, at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium (L5).

That makes ominous reading as they take the next step on the road to defending their crown and raises serious doubts over whether they can become the first side since Arsenal in 2014/15 to win back-to-back FA Cups. But this Manchester City side are unrelenting, and with 11 successive wins in FA Cup away ties under their belt, they appear well-placed to reach the fifth round for a ninth-successive season.

Players to watch: Dejan Kulusevski was in the thick of the action when these two sides played out a 3-3 draw in the Premier League in December, scoring, assisting and receiving a yellow card. City’s Phil Foden was also on target in that game and he netted a brace in round three against Huddersfield.