Spurs under 23’s versus Manchester City: (match preview)

Our under 23’s will face Manchester City on Saturday afternoon in the PL2 in what is Wayne Burnett’s sides final league game of 2018. For those of you that don’t already know, Saturday’s rescheduled game will be played behind closed doors due to the fact that Man City’s first team are playing Everton later on that day. As a result of this for the first time this season I will be unable to report on a game that our development side have been involved in, which is a massive shame not just for me but for all of those who wanted to watch the game. Saturday’s game comes at an interesting time for Spurs as our under 18’s have an important FA youth cup tie against Millwall on the Monday, before our development side return to action on the Tuesday to face Oxford United in the Checkatrade trophy. One would assume that there would be a significant number of chances made from the team that started our last PL2 game, a 2-2 draw against Everton at Hotspur Way. We could potentially see a number of our under 18’s make the step up for Saturday’s game. Paul Harsley’s Manchester City side have started the season in fine form and after picking up six wins from their opening 12 PL2 games Harsley’s side are in fourth position in the league table. However, when these two teams met in the reverse fixture at Broadhall Way back in September it was Burnett’s side who came out on top. Our 2-0 win against Man City was one of our finest performances of 2018 and some of the fluent attacking football that Burnett’s side played that day was breathtaking. Saturday’s encounter will probably be a different kind of game but as this fixture has shown in recent seasons including at under 21 level, it is one of those fixtures that seems to produce some incredible score lines due to both teams attacking style of play. I have highlighted the threat of Manchester City winger Rabbi Matondo below but another player who is a real talent and creative force is England under 19 international Ian Carlo Poveda as well as clinical Spanish centre forward Nabil Touaizi.

For those wanting to read a match report of Saturday’s game there should be an official report published by the club at some point over the weekend. I wish Burnett’s side all the very best of luck for what will be a challenging game for our lads.

My predicted lineup: (4-2-3-1) Glover, Hinds, Statham, Marsh (c), Reynolds, Duncan, Bowden, Pochettino, Maghoma, Georgiou, Sterling.

Subs from: Freeman, Brown, Oakley-Boothe, Thorpe, Richards.

Injured/unavailable: Luke Amos, Shayon Harrison, Jonathan Dinzeyi, Phoenix Patterson, J’Neil Bennett.

Doubtful: Shilow Tracey, Brooklyn Lyons-Foster.

Previous meeting: Spurs 2-0

My score prediction: Spurs 2-1.

My one to watch: Manchester City starlet Rabbi Matondo is a player who has pace and trickery in abundance. The Liverpool born winger who is already a full international for Wales has been in good form for the ‘ Sky Blues ’ this season and he has found the back of the net six times from the ten PL2 games that he has been involved in. Matondo is one of the fastest footballers in the country!