A slice of English football history is on the line for Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening, when Ange Postecoglou's men host Premier League champions Manchester City in the pick of the midweek fixtures.
Having already slain the Citizens twice while defeating Manchester United three times in 2024-25, Spurs could become the first team to ever beat both Manchester giants on three occasions in a single campaign.
Match preview
Ipswich Town marksman Liam Delap bullying the Tottenham defence early doors was not a sign of things to come at Portman Road on Saturday, where Tottenham successfully avenged their shock home defeat to the Tractor Boys earlier in the season with a 4-1 pummelling of the newly-promoted side.
Back in a Premier League starting lineup for the first time in a month, Brennan Johnson was at the double thanks to pair of assists from Son Heung-min, before rejuvenated right-back Djed Spence and the influential Dejan Kulusevski also got in on the act.
Omari Hutchinson's slick first-time strike had briefly given Postecoglou's men something to think about, but the Lilywhites quickly rediscovered their groove as they marched to consecutive Premier League win number three, one that has cemented their 12th-placed ranking in the table.
Such a mediocre standing is still unacceptable for a club of Spurs' stature, as Postecoglou himself has been upfront about, but the North London giants have unsurprisingly quashed any fleeting talk of a relegation dogfight since recovering a plethora of fundamental players from injury.
Wednesday's hosts are now going in search of four straight Premier League successes for the first time since October 2023, when Postecoglou was working his magic and then some in the English capital, and after conceding in 10 consecutive home games between October 30 and January 4, Tottenham have now kept a clean sheet in three of their last four.
Scoring in a sensational 18 straight matches at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium also stands the Lilywhites in good stead, but Man City's own 16-game scoring streak home and away in all competitions ceased to exist by the close of play on Sunday evening.
Supported by both the blue half of Manchester and the red half of North London, Pep Guardiola's men failed in their mission to halt Liverpool's seemingly unstoppable surge to Premier League glory, succumbing to goals from Mohamed Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai in a 2-0 loss to the champions-elect.
Possession was not the problem for the holders at the Etihad, but with the injured Erling Haaland helplessly watching on from afar, their lack of a focal point stuck out like a sore thumb as they were condemned to their third loss from four across all tournaments, the other two coming to Real Madrid.
Nevertheless, Guardiola's crop are just about clinging onto the final top-four slot in the Premier League table, although wins for Chelsea and Aston Villa on Tuesday will bump them down to sixth, and only two of the visitors' last nine Premier League away games have ended in triumph.
Both of those wins also came against relegation-threatened outfits in Leicester City and Ipswich Town, and having already been bested 4-0 and 2-1 by Spurs in this season's Premier League and EFL Cup respectively, the champions ought to proceed with caution at one of their least favourite haunts.
Team News
Tottenham may still be a ways away from having a fully-fit squad again, but Postecoglou only has six guaranteed absentees for Wednesday's blockbuster in Ben Davies (load management), Radu Dragusin (ACL), Dominic Solanke (knee), Richarlison (calf), Cristian Romero (thigh) and Micky van de Ven (thigh).
Timo Werner's hamstring problem might settle down in time for him to be involved against City, whom he scored his only goal of the season against so far in the EFL Cup, but he will certainly not be in contention to start.
Postecoglou also demoted James Maddison and Pedro Porro from the starting XI at Portman Road for the same reason, but the pair should force their way back in on Wednesday, where the former's expected promotion could spell bad news for Mathys Tel.
At the tip of the City attack, Guardiola could offer no guarantees that Haaland's knee injury would be healed in time for the trip to Tottenham, and the three-day turnaround makes the two-time Golden Boot winner a serious doubt for the contest.
However, should Haaland play and indeed score, he would become just the second player to score 10 home goals and 10 away goals in three straight Premier League seasons, following in the footsteps of Tottenham's own Harry Kane.
Rodri (ACL), Oscar Bobb (ankle), Manuel Akanji (abductor) and John Stones (thigh) are also unavailable to Guardiola, who did start Kevin De Bruyne at the weekend but should now wield the axe on the ageing Belgian.
Tottenham Hotspur possible starting lineup:
Vicario; Porro, Gray, Danso, Spence; Maddison, Bentancur, Sarr; Kulusevski, Johnson, Son
Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Lewis, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol; Gonzalez, Kovacic; Savinho, Silva, Doku; Marmoush
We say: Tottenham Hotspur 2-2 Manchester City
Tottenham have lit the blue touch paper in the final third once more and will be working with an additional day's rest than the champions, who should not head home without having conceded a couple of goals on the night.
However, even a City-less Haaland had their moments against Liverpool, and with all due respect to Spurs' centre-backs, they are no Virgil van Dijk or Ibrahima Konate, so Guardiola's men can bite back just as hard to claim a point.
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