sport news How can Tottenham beat Man City if Antonio Conte is absent? trends now
Tottenham have a strong record against Manchester City - of the big six only Liverpool have lost fewer games against City in their last 10 meetings - but the Spurs team set to face the Cityzens is one bereft of confidence.
And now to make matters worse, Spurs could be without their coach for arguably the most important match of their season, after Antonio Conte underwent surgery to remove his gallbladder following severe abdominal pains.
His assistant manager Cristian Stellini said that a decision would be made with his surgeon on the eve of the game, though Conte remained in Italy on Saturday evening with the expectancy being that he will not be at Sunday's clash.
Last month, City came back from 2-0 down at half-time to win the game 4-2 in a pulsating encounter at the Etihad - and now, just 17 days later Spurs will host the same opponents.
City have been far from perfect themselves this season, and Spurs have a good chance of coming away with all three points, but they will have to cut out the individual errors and fix their back five teething problems, while restricting Erling Haaland.
Antonio Conte's likely absence could be a big blow to Tottenham's prospects against Man City
Only Liverpool have a better record against City than Spurs out of the big six in the last 10 meetings
Conte's defence is an issue that has gone unsolved since his first day at the club, and is one that the acquisition of Pedro Porro will not fix. The dynamic 3-4-3 that took the Premier League by storm with Chelsea in 2016-17 has wilted into a densely-packed cluster of five defenders defending the ball far closer to their goal than they would otherwise like.
The Italian is known for picking vibrant, attacking full-backs. At Chelsea he had Marcos Alonso and Victor Moses, with Inter he ended Juventus' chokehold on the Scudetto with Achraf Hakimi and Ivan Perisic. But at Spurs he has Ryan Sessegnon and Emerson Royal.
Both those Spurs full-backs prefer to do their work higher up the pitch, but neither possesses the prerequisite quality to be able to turn attack into defence. That is fine when the three centre-halves are the gravel-eating stalwarts that John Terry, Gary Cahill, Milan Skriniar and Stefan de Vrij are - but Spurs are bereft of that monolithic presence at the back.
Cristian Romero and Eric Dier are perhaps the closest thing that Conte can call upon, but the pairing are frail in comparison to the aforementioned. Davinson Sanchez's litany of past mistakes have led to his absence in the side, and Clement Lenglet's addition to the squad over summer has been a fruitless attempt to bring some composure to the backline.
And with a shaky back three, the rest of the side shrinks to provide some protection for Hugo Lloris, with the side retreating more and more as they come under pressure with no out-ball available with Harry Kane almost as deep as Rodrigo Bentancur.
The consequences of this were perhaps made more apparent against City last month, than against any other side - each of their four goals was scored within the penalty area, although the fourth was given away by a shocking error from Lenglet.
The back five has become an issue for Spurs, who would perhaps be best served by taking a centre-back out and placing them in midfield, in an attempt to stop the danger almost at source and give the thrilling attacking options they do possess a chance to run at the City defence - which has been far from solid.
That is not to say that Spurs have not had some joy with this system - they are fifth in the Premier League, in the round of 16 in the Champions League, and have reached the fifth round of the FA Cup. But potentially without Conte present on Sunday, who's wealth of experience and skill at galvanising his troops has been so effective, it runs the risk of coming unstuck.
Cristian Romero is perhaps the closest thing Spurs have to a John Terry or Gary Cahill figure from Conte's Premier League winning Chelsea side from 2016-17
Tottenham's back five has caused them problems and has been exposed for a lack of pace
In the clash of 17 days ago at the Etihad, five of the six goals came from individual mistakes from both sides.
Errors are unavoidable in any game - even the robotic Haaland can miss from time to time - but five goals in a single match does not bely two teams playing with confidence.
In City's case both their errors came from Ederson, who gave away a pass to Rodri playing out the back for the first, before weakly palming the ball straight to Royal for the second. It is a sloppiness that perhaps indicates overconfidence, but such errors are expected when the goalkeeper is implored to play with creativity from the back.
Hugo Lloris has been guilty of numerous individual errors over the course of this season
City goalkeeper Ederson was equally culpable of sloppy errors against Spurs in January
That said, it is becoming a worrying trend for Ederson, who has been caught out on several occasions before in much the same way. The ability and skill of his defenders to recover and bail him out has perhaps gone some way to reducing the redness of his cheeks, but it is surely a concern that has plagued Guardiola for a while.
Conte's absence could see mistakes creep in
For Tottenham, errors leading to goals is a well-trodden path that more often than not leads to Hugo Lloris, and unfortunately for fans it is one that no manager has been able to completely eradicate from his game.
Against City he was found near-translucent once again at his near post, as well as rashly rushing off his line for a ball he was never going to reach to concede City's first.
But it is not just the French goalkeeper - and in a way Conte would perhaps hope it was.
