Red-hot Son poses threat to City juggernaut
THE Premier League’s only remaining unbeaten records are on the line on Sunday when Tottenham Hotspur will hope to follow Celtic and inflict another dent in Manchester City’s superb start to the campaign.
The City juggernaut had crushed all before them, winning every competitive game they had played this season, until they were held to a surprise 3-3 draw with Celtic in the Champions League on Wednesday.
That result, and the way the Scottish side exposed chinks in City’s armour, will have given a fillip to Tottenham, fresh from a Champions League win in Moscow, before England’s top two clash at White Hart Lane.
Pep Guardiola’s impressive start at the Etihad Stadium has made City many people’s favourites for the title, and Spurs will need all the grit they showed in their victory over CSKA Moscow on Tuesday to avoid losing further ground to their opponents.
Both sides will be without key players for Sunday’s clash.
Harry Kane, Spurs top scorer for the past two seasons, is expected to be out for at least another month after suffering ankle ligament damage against Sunderland on Sept. 18 - although Son Heung-min’s stunning form has ensured they have not missed him as much as fans feared.
The South Korean,
scored his fifth goal in five games in Spurs’ 1-0 win in Moscow.
“He is on fire,” Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino told reporters. “To keep this form is very important for us.”
City, four points clear of their opponents and out to avenge their double defeat to Spurs in the league last season, will also be without several important players, including Vincent Kompany and Kevin De Bruyne, who were injured in last Saturday’s 3-1 Premier League win over Swansea City.
Arsenal, who are third, and Liverpool (fourth) will both expect to maintain their challenges away to struggling sides.
Arsene Wenger’s men will be bidding for their fifth league win in a row on Sunday at newly promoted Burnley, who won for only the second time this season on Monday when they beat Watford.
Arsenal, just a point behind Spurs, will hope top scorer Alexis Sanchez continues his impressive record against Burnley, having scored three goals and made one in his three appearances against them.
Swansea City beat Liverpool 3-1 at home last season, but with Swansea manager Francesco Guidolin under pressure following their poor start to the campaign and Liverpool revitalised under Juergen Klopp, they will be hard-pushed to match that in the corresponding fixture on Saturday.
Fifth-place Everton could go second for at least 24 hours if they beat Crystal Palace at home on Friday night.
Manchester United – with captain Wayne Rooney by no means certain of a recall – will be looking to extend their impressive home record against struggling Stoke City on Sunday, having won their last eight league games against Mark Hughes’s side at Old Trafford. – Reuters
WHILE South Africa will feel the absence of the injured AB de Villiers in the middle-order in the ODI series against Australia starting today, they might be most keen for a new all-rounder to be unearthed in the coming weeks, to sort out an imbalance in the line-up. But there are otehr areas South Africa will want to dominate. Top-order batsmen BOTH sets of openers are very aggressive – the Australians, Dave Warner and Aaron Finch (if the latter is fit) are a bruising hard-hitting duo, while Hashim Amla and Quinton de Kock rely more on timing and, in Amla’s case, touch. Importantly, as Steve Smith mentioned yesterday, he wants his openers to play positively. In the case of the respective No 3s – also the captains – their jobs are to bat for most of the innings. SA’s middle-order THERE is no AB de Villiers, and no AB de Villiers leaves an enormous hole. Du Plessis spoke yesterday about how confident JP Duminy’s been looking recently, and it is to be hoped that confidence can be transformed into runs on the board. Dave Miller continues to irritate – he has an excellent record in knockout games in tournaments, but “run-of-the-mill” ODI series’ seem to bore him. Farhaan Behardien’s 20-ball half-century against Ireland will do his confidence good, and it’s vital he replicates that form against sterner opposition. SA’s new all-rounder DUMINY, Behardien and Wayne Parnell seem a shoo-in for the starting side, meaning one of Dwaine Pretorius or Andile Phehlukwayo will sit out the first game today. As Du Plessis explained yesterday, the Proteas have been desperate for more and better all-rounder options and he’s hopeful Pretorius and Phehlukwayo will put up their hands in this series. South Africa’s one-day team in recent years has been unbalanced – it was a key reason for their failure at last year’s World Cup. SA’s new-ball bowling HAVING highlighted the respective top-orders, the ability to take wickets early is vital. South Africa, with Steyn and Rabada, appear to have the advantage over the Australians who have chosen to rest their quickest seamers. Steyn in particular has, as both captains pointed out yesterday, “a point to prove”, after he was left out of the squad for the triangular series in the Caribbean. Given the aggression of both Finch and Warner, there will be chances for Steyn and Rabada, but the Proteas will have to take them, or there could be trouble. The impact of spin SMITH was right yesterday in saying he didn’t expect spin bowlers on either side to be as successful as in the Caribbean in June. That doesn’t mean the roles of Adam Zampa and Imran Tahir won’t be important. Both provide variety with control and are important wicket-taking options for their sides. They may have to contain more in this series, though, especially in the two matches on the Highveld.