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Fading Premier League champions Manchester City all but handed the title to Liverpool on Sunday with a performance that will not offer much encouragement ahead of a trip to a resurgent Tottenham on Wednesday. GET UP TO £50 IN FREE BETS WITH TALKSPORT BET Ange's aces can pile more pain on Pep's Euro flops Two of the Premier League's hit-and-miss sides meet in North London where Tottenham look real value to do the double over Pep Guardiola's fallen champs. City travel south on the back of a meek 2-0 home loss to Liverpool on Sunday, a match that all but handed the title to their Merseyside rivals. Twenty-four hours earlier Spurs won a third successive Premier League fixture, romping to a 4-1 success at Ipswich. No one would dare to suggest injury-plagued Tottenham have turned a corner and Ipswich blew plenty of chances to hurt Spurs for a second time this season. But Ange Postecoglou's side looked pacy and direct when they could and those are two commodities which continue to unsettle City's fragile and also depleted defence. Tottenham produced one of the results of the season when they won 4-0 at the Etihad in November and they have been a model of inconsistency ever since. Yet there is little doubt that City are there for the taking at the end of a week in which they hoisted the white flag in the Champions League as well as Premier League, and Postecoglou knows the secret of beating them. Goal threat Johnson can also incur ref wrath Tottenham are still missing a glut of players, including frontmen Dominic Solanke, Richarlison and Timo Werner. The return from injury of Brennan Johnson after a month out has been a real positive for Postecoglou and the young Wales flier was on target twice at Ipswich on Saturday. That's nine league goals for the season for Johnson, his best Premier League return, and there is more to come. Another aspect of Johnson's game which is less well chronicled is his knack of picking up bookings, and against a side who keep the ball as well as City it would be easy to see the Tottenham man in trouble defending from the front. For a player who looks like butter wouldn't melt, Johnson has picked up four yellow cards this season, the most recent coming in that victory over the Tractor Boys. Belt up for an hour of goal power When Tottenham won 4-0 at The Etihad in November, they were 2-0 up by half-time and 3-0 after 52 minutes. Expect another three goals - or maybe more - before the hour's up at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium with precious little chance of these sides being able to capably defend against the other. City's combined first-halves this season have produced 47 goals - only one team's opening periods have been more goal-laden. Yes, that team is Spurs with 50. These two teams could combine for over 2. 5 in the first 45 but certainly in the first hour. GET UP TO £50 IN FREE BETS WITH TALKSPORT BET Bet £10 get £30 in free bets CLAIM HERE T&Cs: 18+ New customers only. Opt in & bet £10+ via mobile on any football market at 2. 00+ odds within 7 days. No Cash out. Get 6x £5 Free Bets on selected markets. Free bets expire in 7 days. Card payments & Apple Pay only. T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware. org | Please gamble responsibly Check out all the best free bets and offers from talk SPORT and our partners Odds correct at time of publish and subject to change* 18+ New customers only. Opt in & bet min £10 (max £50) on any Man City v Liverpool markets (odds 2. 00+) by 16: 30 on 23/02/25. Get your initial stake credited in Free Bets, up to £50. Free Bets are for football and expire in 7 days. T&Cs apply. Gamble Aware. org | Please gamble responsibly A responsible gambler is someone who: For help with a gambling problem, call the National Gambling Helpline on 0808 8020 133 or go to www. gamstop. co. uk to be excluded from all UK-regulated gambling websites. Commercial content notice: Taking one of the bookmaker offers featured in this article may result in a payment to talk SPORT. 18+. T&Cs apply. gambleaware. org © 2025 talk SPORT Limited
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