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City was once a nightmare for Tottenham, but the visiting team are not as strong as before

Machester City were painfully defeated by Leicester and they will try to make things better against Tottenham. They always beat them at home, but the London club have the best defense of the league, they're on a six-game winning run, and they only have a single visiting defeat from the start of the championship by Manchester United

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After the Arsenal and Leicester derby, the last match of the day and the last one before the two-week break (next week it's the FA Cup round of sixteen) goes to the fourth Manchester City and second Tottenham who are only one point apart.

This match could give us the answer of who will have the better starting place for the hunt after the leading Leicester in the last three months of the craziest season since there was Premiership.

In the last round Manchester City hoped they would break Leicester at home and thus take over the table, but they were bitterly disappointed by losing 1-3. The counter-attacks and free kicks destroyed City's back line who, without Kompany and Mangala are no serious threat. That's why the best news for Manuel Pellegrini is the recovery of captain Kompany and him coming back after a longer break.

But, we have to remind you that a month and a half ago Kompany already once came back. Then he ended up playing for about 20 minutes and again injured the infamous calf. That's why caution is necessary this time, and in the meantime right back Sagna also injured himself. Pellegrini hardly has time to sleep, even though Manchester City are theoretically still in the game for four trophies before Joseph Guardiola takes over in the summer.

- Kompany practiced for three weeks without problems and played 45 minutes for the young team, so he should finally be ready. It would be a huge shame for him to get injured again during the most important part of the season, and after the first five rounds, today we will finally have our four top players available - Kompany, Silva, Toure and Aguero - revealed Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini, but De Bruyne, Navas, Bony and Delph are out, so there's not a lot of room for change.

- We still believe we will be champions, but we have to prove that on the turf. Tottenham are also in that race because they have a good team, good players and a good manager, and it's not just about the last six matches they've won in. But, we have a strong team and if we reach our highest level of game, I'm convinced we can win today - Pellegrini hopes, and Manchester City are on a five-game winning run at home against Tottenham, but in the last seven matches against six first-placed clubs they have no wins, only three draws, which is worrying for their highest goals.

But, we should mention Aguero's 10 goals in the last eight head-to-heads against Tottenham, like his seven in 2016, which is the most in the league.

After the 1-o win against Watford, their sixth in a row in all competition and getting to the second place of the Premiership, Tottenham's manager Mauriocio Pochettino said:

- My players started believing that we can be champions!

So far the Argentinian manager ran from such estimations, but obviously the time has come to stop running from responsibility. Eve though he has the youngest team in the league, they obviously matured for the highest reaches. The have the talent and the value, and now is the time to show them.

The only visiting defeat Tottenham had this season was in the first round against Manchester United, and since then they have six wins and five draws in visiting matches in the championship. With only 19 conceded goals they have the best defense of the league led by the great French goalkeeper Lloris. The final value test should be arriving at Etihad where in the last two seasons Tottenham lost here with 0-6 and 1-4, and if they would end the negative run today, then the London club would result-wise and psychologically overcome a huge barrier.

It surely won't be easy, but Tottenham are disciplined and willing to sacrifice theselves, and forward Kane (14 goals in the last 16 matches) and midfielder Alli (six goals and five assists in the last 14 matches) have been playing great lately, next to playmaker Eriksen, causing huge problems for their opponents' defense.

- This is not a decisive match, but it's very important because after it there are 12 rounds, and only by winning can we stay where we are or go even higher - said the visiting manager Pochettino. Except for the heavy injured and longer absent stopper Vertonghen and forward N'Jie, all other players are available today.

- We beat Manchester City at home 4-1 and that win had a huge meaning because it gave us confidence that we can do a lot in this season. Now we're the visiting team and we have to be fully focused and think only about this match, and not about the future. My philosophy is to try and be better in each new day, and even though that's not always possible, it's worth to try. We create a lot of chances and we should fix our realization, but the key today will be to play the match without fearing the opponents - Pochettino pointed out, but he also said that the most important task of the defense will be to stop Aguero.

- The past is not important, but the level we're on now and our faith that we can beat City, despite how tough it will be. The defense is collective work, but Kevin Wimmer did a great job in substituting the injured Vertonghen, and I think that he can stop Aguero, even though City have other dangerous players too. This is a big challenge for us, but we believe we can be better than the hosts - concluded manager Mauricio Pochettino whose team is perfectly ready. It's important to say that they saved 14 points in this championship after falling behind in matches at first. You can say that Tottenham never give up.