To get involved use Twitter<\/strong><\/a> (via hashtag #BBCFootball<\/strong><\/a> ) or text us via 81111<\/strong> with FOOTBALL<\/strong> before your message. (Not all contributions can be used. Messages will be charged at your standard operator rate.)<\/span><\/p>\n 1943:<\/strong> Here come the players at Eastlands, the ground filling up in typical leave-it-to-the-last-minute styleee… hope the pints and pies are worth it, folks.<\/p>\n 1938:<\/strong> Better news for Man City, though… Peter Crouch has scored only four goals in 33 Premier League matches – 1734 minutes of football – since he scored the winning goal for Spurs last season at City, on 5 May 2010. Blimey.<\/p>\n 1930:<\/strong> Our man at Eastlands is Phil McNulty…<\/p>\n Stribz in Brum via text:<\/strong> “Why is nobody talking about Liverpool pipping both these guys (Harry and Mancini) to fourth spot?” 1927:<\/strong> As for Harry Redknapp<\/strong> – well the Spurs boss is equally relaxed, mostly it seems because he wouldn’t be all too devastated if his team were to miss out on European football altogether next season. “Teams who get into the Europa League want to get out of it,” he Redknapp this week. “Half of them put reserve teams out in the early stages and it’s difficult to play every Thursday and Sunday. It disrupts things. We didn’t have European football last year and we finished fourth. That was a big advantage to us. If there are teams around you in the Europa League, you want to keep them in it. If we were in it next year, and you were one of the other clubs around us, you’d want us to stay in that competition because it takes its toll. I wanted Man City to stay in it this year because they were playing every Thursday night, slipping off to Azerbaijan to play a team out there. It’s unreal, but that’s how that competition is.”<\/p>\n 1923:<\/strong> You might think Roberto Mancini<\/strong> is a nervy man ahead of tonight’s match following his side’s defeat at Everton on Saturday. Not a word of it. “I don’t think we have a problem for fourth spot,” said the City manager. “We still have three games left and we only need three points. Tottenham are still a very good team. But they have played Champions League and when you do that the season is very difficult. That is what we are trying to achieve and if we beat Tottenham, it is finished.”<\/p>\n 1920: MAN CITY v TOTTENHAM (1945) Pete, Liverpool via text:<\/strong> “Spurs are without Gomes? They might have a chance then!”<\/p>\n 1907: TEAM NEWS SNAP<\/strong> 1906:<\/strong> …BUT… stranger things happen at sea, as they say, right? And Tottenham’s superb record against Man City – they have 19 wins to City’s three in their Premier League head-to-head – suggests not everything will necessarily be plain sailing for the boys in blue tonight.<\/p>\n
Chief football writer Phil McNulty<\/a> reports:<\/strong> “Tottenham<\/strong> confirmed their place in the Champions League with victory at Eastlands near the end of last season – now the tables are turned as three points tonight will see Manchester City<\/strong> secure a slot in next year’s competition. Spurs have endured such a decline that their main priority now is battling with Liverpool for fifth place while City will want to get this piece of pressing business done and dusted before Saturday’s FA Cup Final against Stoke City at Wembley.”<\/div>\n
Chief football writer Phil McNulty<\/a> reports:<\/strong> “One in and one out creating a stir at Eastlands. Carlos Tevez is on the bench and hoping for the chance to show Manchester City<\/strong> boss Roberto Mancini he has recovered sufficiently from the hamstring injury he suffered at Liverpool to stake his claim for Saturday’s FA Cup Final against Stoke City at Wembley. And there is no Heurelho Gomes in the Tottenham<\/strong> team after his error at Chelsea and the rush of blood that gave Blackpool a second penalty at White Hart Lane on Saturday. Spurs say this is because of a back injury sustained in training.”<\/div>\n
Ignoring the fact I mentioned it at 1902 mate, I’d say it’s because no matter how good their form is they’ve left it a little too late for most people’s money.<\/em><\/p>\n
Man City:<\/strong> Hart, Richards, Kompany, Lescott, Zabaleta, Milner, De Jong, Toure Yaya, Adam Johnson, Silva, Dzeko. Subs: Given, Wright-Phillips, Kolarov, Vieira, Tevez, Boyata, Balotelli.
Tottenham:<\/strong> Cudicini, Corluka, Dawson, Gallas, Rose, Lennon, Palacios, Sandro, Modric, Van der Vaart, Crouch. Subs: Pletikosa, Kaboul, Pavlyuchenko, Defoe, Bassong, Kranjcar, Pienaar.
Referee:<\/strong> Mike Dean (Wirral)<\/p>\n
No prizes will be offered for having an opinion. Sorry.<\/em><\/div>\n
Carlos Tevez starts on the bench for Man City<\/strong> after a hamstring injury. Tottenham<\/strong> are without keeper Heurelho Gomes (back injury).<\/p>\n