It's always a good feeling when the limelight comes down on a Friday night UK time, and with this being an EFL Cup clash, I'm sure we'll be treated to a great game.
I've been impressed with the way Tottenham have gone about their business this season, both in terms of how they've coped with injuries and absences of key players, as they are doing now. Of course, I realize that all teams suffer from injuries, but considering that Puzdiguero has only been in charge for a few months and has managed to instill his style of play, it's amazing.
It's a shame they won't be able to start this game, but considering their recent performance against Man City and their style of play, I wouldn't completely dismiss their chances. In their last match against Man Utd they drew, but their performance on the pitch was actually much better than the result, and with an extra week of training for the new players to learn the team's way of playing, I think they will give City some trouble.
Among all the Tottenham players, I've been paying special attention to Richard Leeson lately, because a few weeks ago I mentioned in a pre-match article that once he scores a goal, it will bring a lot of benefits to himself and the club, and it will kick start the momentum of scoring goals, and it's exactly what I said and predicted at the beginning. With 6 goals in his last 7 matches, he is the leader of the Spurs front line. An interesting statistic I overlooked this week is that Richard Leeson has never won against City in 13 attempts in his career, can he reverse that fate on Friday night?
On the other side, City will be buoyed by the return to the training ground of Ennischalant and Stones, who have been arguably the most influential players in the squad since this time last year, and were the most instrumental in winning the treble. Plus, with the return of the impeccable Chieuwandi Bunny, they're close to being 'Timmy'.
However, the player they are most worried about in the near future should be goalkeeper Aidachen Moras, who was injured in the last match against Newcastle and it is still unclear when he will be back. It's not clear when he'll be back, but it's unlikely that he'll be playing in this match anyway, and it's a matter of Gordiona preferring to rest him for the domestic cup matches.
As the defending champions and 2-time winners of the EFL Cup in the last 5 years, City don't want to give up this chance to win the Cup, but I have a feeling that they know that they don't have too much room to lose points in the league this season, so they won't take the Cup too seriously. I'm not saying that the players or the team don't care about the Cup, but I suspect that City will make some necessary changes on Friday.
