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Happy Spurs Day, Spurs lovers! Did you miss real, for sure club football? I know I did. The Hotspurs head to Manchester today to take on the Champions of England at the Etihad Stadium. It hasn't gone so well for Tottenham against City -- Spurs have only won one match against the Sky Blues in their last eight matches, and that was at home in 2013 when we still had Gareth Bale. Let's hope those fortunes change here today.
Lineups:
#THFC team: Lloris, Dier, Fazio, Kaboul (c), Rose; Capoue, Mason; Chadli, Eriksen, Lamela; Soldado #COYS
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 18, 2014
#THFC subs: Vorm, Vertonghen, Dembele, Stambouli, Townsend, Adebayor, Kane. #COYS
— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) October 18, 2014
TEAM NEWS @MCFC: Hart, Clichy, Demichelis, Kompany (C), Sagna, Milner, Lampard, Fernando, Navas, Silva, Aguero
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) October 18, 2014
SUBS NEWS @MCFC: Caballero, Kolarov, Boyata, Toure, Fernandinho, Jovetic, Dzeko
— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) October 18, 2014
Well, this is unexpected. Lloris and Chadli are both deemed healthy enough to make the starting lineup, and that's good. But Fazio getting his first start at the Etihad alongside Kaboul? Vertonghen on the bench? Soldado starting ahead of Ade and Kane? Interesting choices here. Is Pochettino trolling us?
As for city, Demichelis steps in as expected for the injured Mangala, and Lampard gets the start over Yaya Toure, who is on the bench and could be the most frightening late impact sub ever. Also Sagna and Navas. This could get interesting, folks.
So this is a game that could be awesome but could also get really ugly. Let's try and keep things civil in the match thread and remember that this isn't a game we're theoretically supposed to win. Please, no abuse directed at players or officials. Keep it civil towards each other. No links to illegal streams. And ready those "LOL Nothing Matters" animated .gifs.
Who's nervous?