Rivals out to leapfrog Man City
Arsenal, Spurs have chance to go top before Guardiola’s men face Southampton tomorrow
>> LONDON: North London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur will both have the chance to pile the pressure on Pep Guardiola by leapfrogging his Manchester City side at the top of the Premier League table today.
The Gunners, level on points with City, are at home to struggling Middlesbrough while Spurs, a point behind, travel to Bournemouth.
City, still smarting from Wednesday’s 4-0 Champions League loss away to manager Guardiola’s former club Barcelona, are not in action again until tomorrow when they face Southampton at Eastlands.
Should Arsenal and Tottenham both slip up, City could still yield top spot to Liverpool if the Merseysiders, currently two points off the summit following their goalless draw with Manchester United, beat West Bromwich Albion at Anfield today.
Arsenal thrashed Ludogorets 6-0 in the Champions League in midweek, with Mesut Oezil scoring a hat-trick against the Bulgarians at the Emirates.
The Gunners are now unbeaten in 11 matches and veteran manager Arsene Wenger said: “I feel that at the moment, because we win game after game, our confidence is high.”
Middlesbrough, by contrast, are without a win in their last six league matches and are only above the relegation zone on goal difference.
Tottenham face a potentially tricky trip to south coast side Bournemouth, who’ve won plaudits for the quality of their football under young English manager Eddie Howe.
“The job he has done is unbelievable,” said Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino. “They show every week that they’re a team with principles.”
Tottenham held Leverkusen to a scoreless draw in the Champions League in midweek.
Dele Alli is keen to improve his finishing after the Tottenham Hotspur midfielder admitted that his profligacy in front of goal has at times left him feeling frustrated this season.
Alli scored 10 times for Tottenham last season and while he is yet to match the heights of his debut campaign, he has chipped in with a fairly respectable return of three goals in 11 appearances in all competitions.
“To be honest, I want to be scoring goals,” Alli said after the Leverkusen match.
Guardiola is also known for the courage of his football convictions and he insisted those would not change after he saw Lionel Messi, once his star player, score a hat-trick against City on Wednesday.
To make matters worse, City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, himself a former Barca player, was sent off for saving Luis Suarez’s effort when outside his area after gifting the ball to the Uruguayan striker as he tried to follow Guardiola’s call to play out from the back.
Guardiola won his first 10 games as City manager but the club have now gone four games without a victory, a 3-3 draw at Celtic followed by a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham before they squandered two penalties in a 1-1 draw against Everton last Saturday.
“Starting in Glasgow, own goals in White Hart Lane [against Tottenham], missing penalties, we give a lot for the opponents,” Guardiola said.
Southampton, by contrast, were unlucky to lose 1-0 to Inter Milan in the Europa League on Thursday after manager Claude Puel made several changes to the side that beat Burnley 3-1.
Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho returns to former club Chelsea tomorrow, fresh from guiding the Red Devils to a 4-1 Europa League win over Fenerbahce — a match in which world record signing Paul Pogba scored twice and veteran striker Wayne Rooney started after three successive club games as a substitute.
Chelsea will look to carry on from their 3-0 win over faltering Premier League champions Leicester.
Bottom-of-the-table Sunderland go in search of their first league win this season at West Ham today, with fellow strugglers Swansea at home to Watford.
Stoke travel to Hull and Burnley are at home to Everton.