The first half of half a dozen
Repeat fixture
Man City and Spurs will play each other three times over their next four fixtures, twice in the Champions League quarterfinals and once in the Premier League.
With the Carabao Cup in the bag, Guardiola's men still have to play the FA Cup final against Watford, the Champions League quarters as well as their remaining Premier League fixtures. In the league, they currently trail Liverpool by two points but have a game in hand but they'll face a trip across town to United before the season's out.
Spurs, finally moved into their new stadium last week with a 2-0 win over Crystal Palace, and they'll hope to chalk up a win in their first Champions League match at home. Spurs will have to take their last few games in the league seriously though as they currently sit third, only one point above Arsenal and Chelsea and three points above United.
Man City and Spurs will meet each other three times over the next four fixtures.
So, with this in mind, I think it will be a cagey start to this fixture. It will be the first 45 minutes out of 270 that the two teams will have to play over their upcoming fixtures, so I suspect both teams will want to start on the side of caution, avoiding any unnecessary bookings and unforced errors.
I suspect it will be a low scoring match on the whole. Spurs, in particular, will not want City to pick up an away goal advantage, especially in their new stadium. If there will be goals in this match I suspect they will come in the second-half.
Going against the head to head record
Their head to head record would suggest that there will be goals in the first game, but I think we need to see the stats in a different context. Their last few meetings have been in the league at a time of the season with considerably less pressure.
This time around both teams will meet under a high-pressure environment, in a new stadium. I'm not one to go against the stats which show that historically there has often been an early goal and two goals or over in a match, but I think this heavy, repeated match schedule will have the effect of drawing out the match events over the fixtures and leaving a barren first half.
Betting tip
Considering the unusual circumstances I believe these two teams will buck the recent trend and play out a goalless first half.
I am going for under 0.5 goals in the first half at odds of 49/20.
