Manchester City v Tottenham: Premier League – live

33 min: Kane crosses from the right. Son rises but can’t guide a header goalwards. Stones gets in the road and the ball deflects out for a goal kick. There’s an enjoyable intensity to this.

31 min: Hojbjerg chases Lewis through the centre circle. Lewis falls, then Hojbjerg lands awkwardly on the young City star, studding his leg. Accidental or not? The referee shows a yellow, so make of that what you will.

30 min: Both teams are giving everything. Bentancur crashes into Lewis and is slightly fortunate not to go into the book. Then Grealish scampers down the left and makes it into the box, only to be denied by a perfectly timed Romero tackle. That took some nerve, given it was in the box and he’s already on a booking. Nothing comes of the resulting corner.

29 min: A corner on the right leads to a corner on the left. Mahrez swings it towards the near post, where Emerson volleys spectacularly clear. “I’m just catching up and am horrified to see nobody corrected you on your assertion that no team has ever beaten a Pep Guardiola side three times in a row,” writes Ciarán Leinster. “I refer you to Liverpool’s 9-4 victory over 3 legs in the league and Champions League in early 2018. Shall we assume you meant league games and all get on with our lives?”

28 min: Haaland wins a header in the Spurs box, but can only send it backwards. The ball is half cleared. Rodri picks it up and sends a screamer through a crowded box. The shot deflects wide right for a corner.

26 min: Perisic curls a delicious ball into the City box from the left. At the far post, Kane cocks his leg back with the intention of shooting, only for Ake to eyebrow the dropping ball away just in time. That’s saved a certain goal! Nothing comes of the resulting corner.

25 min: Spurs break upfield from a City corner. Son romps after a long pass down the left. He’s got Kane totally free in the middle, in acres, but can’t get the ball under control. Having hesitated, he’s soon tackled heartily by Grealish, and the danger is gone. The crowd enjoyed that.

23 min: … but he does now, as Akanji is hit by a late Romero tackle. There wasn’t too much in it, but a Spurs booking seemed inevitable given the events of the last few minutes.

22 min: The impressive Lewis spins Bentancur and is clipped to the floor. The home crowd want a booking, but the referee doesn’t comply.

21 min: Spurs launch an immediate counter through Kulusevski, who is in flight down the right when he’s brought down by Mahrez. The City winger goes into the book.

20 min: Grealish dribbles his way down the left and wins City a corner. Mahrez takes. Romero bashes a header clear but Gundogan reclaims possession and sends Grealish off down the left again. His low cross is met by Alvarez, who bangs a first-time shot goalwards from 12 yards. Dier does extremely well to spread himself and block.

18 min: Ake crosses from the left. Perisic rises on the edge of his box and heads backwards towards Lloris. There’s just enough height on the looping header to allow Lloris to pluck it from the sky under pressure from Alvarez. City come again soon after, Gundogan looking for Haaland down the inside-left channel. Haaland crashes over as he strides into the box, claiming a clip by Romero, but the referee’s not interested and waves play on.

16 min: Bentancur rolls a clever ball down the inside-right channel to release Kane into the City box. Kane lashes his shot into the side netting, but it doesn’t matter, the flag popping up for a clear offside soon after.

15 min: Kulusevski gives Emerson too much to do with a pass down the right flank. Emerson gives chase anyway, and is unceremoniously crunch-tackled by Ake for his trouble. Both teams are in Full Commitment mode tonight.

14 min: Rodri cheekily runs his boot down the back of Hojbjerg’s leg. Just a free kick, but there’s another player who can consider himself slightly fortunate not to go into the referee’s notebook early doors.

13 min: Mahrez belts the free kick straight into the Spurs wall. A massive disappointment for the home fans, who groan accordingly.

12 min: Rodri tries to release Mahrez down the right but is clattered mid-pass by Davies. The referee gets his yellow card out, but decides against booking the Spurs defender. It’s a free kick, though, 25 yards out, just to the right of centre.

10 min: Alvarez makes good down the right and earns the first corner of the evening. All eyes on Haaland, lurking on the penalty spot. Mahrez curls it long. Haaland, having made a clever run towards the far stick, attempts to cushion a sidefoot into the net from a tight angle. A strangely careful effort is deflected out for another corner, from which nothing happens.

8 min: Lewis makes a nuisance of himself 30 yards from goal, then lays off to Gundogan, who nearly releases Haaland into the box with a delicate wedge forward. Just a bit too much juice on the pass. A nice feel to this game, with both teams appearing to be in the mood.

6 min: Spurs have enjoyed 58 percent possession during these early exchanges, outCitying City. Conte will be pleased with his team’s start.

5 min: Lewis crosses from the right. Haaland rises highest, six yards out, but can’t get his head on the ball, which sails out for a goal kick. A couple of inches lower, and Spurs were in a world of pain.

4 min: City stroke it around the middle patiently, asserting some home dominance.

2 min: Kulusevski pushes right up on Ederson, but the City keeper doesn’t panic with the ball at his feet and clears his lines. City hearts in mouths for a nanosecond there.

Spurs – who are looking to become the first team to win three matches in a row against a Pep Guardiola side – get the ball rolling. They pass it around the back for a bit, then Son and Perisic nearly make some ground down the left with a crisp one-two. Throw to City, but some very early proactive play from Spurs.

The teams are out. City wear their sky blue, while Spurs sport lily white. The visitors also wear black armbands in memory of their former player Anton Walkes, who passed away after a boating accident this week.

A quick reminder of how this fixture panned out last season. Forget astonishing. Forget sensational. It was truly psychedelic. More, please, City! More, please, Spurs!

Antonio Conte talks, gnomically, to Sky Sports. “Rodrigo [Bentancur] is an important player for us, with [Pierre-Emile] Hojbjerg. They do not play many games together, but they always give good performances. We must start to win, and then we will see what happens.”

Pre-match positivity: the Tottenham Hotspur way. “I laughed at this tweet back when it was first posted,” begins Yash Gupta …

“… and so far it’s been the only saving grace of this season. It is hilarious every time I read it. This season so far has been extremely disappointing, from starting with thinking Conte is nothing like Mourinho to realising Conte is a Poundland Mourinho. Anyway, if Spurs win Arsenal become favourites, and if Spurs lose Conte might leave. Looking forward to a 3-0 win for Tottenham with 15% possession. Bring it on!”

Alexandra Ashton adds: “I’m surprised both Lloris and Son start today. Lloris’ performance against Arsenal had Forster nailed to start (I had thought), and Son has been so poor for this entire season that Richarlison deserves a start. Kane isn’t dropping deep into that midfield role as he was wont to do last season, and Son is really suffering for it, being unable to latch onto through balls from deep. It would certainly be representative of our season so far if we beat City home and away, handing Arsenal the title. Bizarre inconsistency with flashes of good performances.”

That’s the spirit, folks. All aboard the emotional rollercoaster! Dissatisfaction guaranteed!

Pep Guardiola – who turned 52 yesterday and gets a belated ♫ happy birthday to you 🎶 – speaks to Sky Sports. “Even if we had won at Old Trafford this would be important. Last season we dropped six points against Spurs. Rico Lewis has played really well, he reads the positions, and that’s why he is selected. It’s a big responsibility, he’ll play against Son, Kulusevski, Kane, but it’s the perfect choice tonight. We have some patterns of play that we need to reignite again. The solution is not to do something that we have not done in seven years, because we have won four Premier Leagues in five years. If I think we should do something different, I would be stupid, because it works! So you have to try to do it again. Sometimes you forget. It is up to me to find the patterns!”

Manchester City make five changes to the side that started the 2-1 derby defeat by United. Julian Alvaraez makes only his second start in the Premier League for City. He’s in along with Rico Lewis, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish. Some big stars drop to the bench: Kyle Walker, Joao Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden.

Tottenham Hotspur are also coming off the back of a derby loss, having been comprehensively beaten 2-0 by Arsenal. Ivan Perisic, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies and Emerson Royal are back, as Clement Lenglet, Ryan Sessegnon, Pape Matar Sarr and Matt Doherty drop to the bench.

The teams

Preamble