Premier League Weekly: Can Tottenham be the first team to beat Manchester City in the league all season?

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola (PA)

IT was a record breaking night in the Premier League on Wednesday.

Manchester City’s 4-0 romp at Swansea set a top flight English record of 15 consecutive wins as they maintained their 11-point advantage over Manchester United.

At the other end, West Brom achieved a creditable 0-0 draw at Liverpool, but it still marked a club record of 16 matches without a win. With another set of matches this weekend, what more records could be in store?

Can Tottenham halt the City juggernaut?

THIS Saturday throws up an enticing fixture for PREMIER LEAGUE WEEKLY to discuss as City try to continue their remarkable run against Tottenham.

Considering they were two of the favourites for the title before a ball was kicked off, City kick off with a whopping 18-point advantage over Spurs. Up to this point, City have simply been unstoppable. Only two points dropped out of a possible 51; 15 more goals than anyone else; the joint best defensive record. The numbers are staggering, but as Pep Guardiola said in South Wales on Wednesday, it’s about so much more than the numbers.

Mauricio Pochettino, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur (Clive Rose/Getty Images)

The football has been mesmeric and great to watch. The midfield triangle of David Silva, Fernandinho and Kevin De Bruyne is controlling every match. The wide players, Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane bring electric pace, and this season lots of goals, while Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus are the beneficiaries of all this brilliance in attack. At the other end, goalkeeper Ederson Moraes has brought the assurance that Claudio Bravo palpably lacked. City’s dominance has been so great that Nicolas Otamendi has grown in confidence at centre-half and Fabian Delph has been converted from central midfield to left-back and barely been exposed.

But the beauty of football is that every game offers a new opportunity. And Tottenham must believe that they can become the first team to beat City in the league all season. They certainly have players in Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen, who can hurt the very best opposition. But Mauricio Pochettino’s men have allowed themselves to fall way off the pace. There have been soft draws at Wembley and meek performances away in losing at Manchester United, and especially Arsenal. Those two losses reinforced the question mark about Spurs’ ability away from home against the very best.

However, their record at the Etihad Stadium is far better than their often fruitless visits to the likes of Old Trafford and Anfield. They have recorded seven wins at the venue, including the one that secured their passage to the Champions League under Harry Redknapp in 2010. Having won there in February 2016, most of this current side know it can be done. There is also the feeling that Spurs will be representing the rest of the Premier League when they head up to Manchester. Huddersfield, Southampton and West Ham held City up for most of their recent encounters before eventually succumbing, but the other 19 teams need to see how City can be stopped and even exposed. Manchester United couldn’t manage that in the derby, so now it’s over to Spurs.

Player of the Day:

THIS column has eulogised about DAVID SILVA before and is not afraid to do so again, given how well the little Spaniard has been playing this season. Manchester City fans will never say a bad word about ‘Merlin’ given the way he has played for them for the last seven years, but the little question mark was always whether he could score one or two more goals, given his incredible ability. Well, four goals in his last three games has been the perfect answer.

Manchester City’s David Silva (right) scores his side’s third goal of the game during the Premier League match at the Liberty Stadium, Swansea. (Nick Potts/PA Wire)

There was never any doubt that Pep Guardiola was going to make room for Silva in his team when he arrived at Manchester City last season as it’s easy to imagine Silva in that great Barcelona team alongside Xavi, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi. Goodness, we’ve seen it enough times for Spain. But in the absence of captain Vincent Kompany for large periods through injury, Guardiola has given the armband to the man from Gran Canaria and he has embraced the responsibility and he has become a leader – although we don’t know if the shaven head is a way of trying to become a hard man!

Silva has been around for all the trophy success at City in the modern era, but while the influence of Kompany and Yaya Toure is on the wane, the Spaniard remains at the fulcrum of City’s play – possibly even more so than he has ever been. He is currently dead level with Kevin De Bruyne with both five goals and eight assists in City’s 17 matches so far and it’s probably a dead heat as to who has been the side’s best player this season, and in turn that of the league. But what is not in doubt is if Silva wins a third Premier League title, his place as an all-time Premier League great and City’s best ever player would be confirmed.

Stat of the Day:

8 – MANCHESTER CITY’s tally of 49 points and 52 goals after 17 games is more points and goals than the club achieved in eight of their 20 completed Premier League seasons.