Tottenham are next up for Manchester City in the Premier League as Pep Guardiola’s men look to continue their positive start to the 2025/26 campaign.
The Manchester club got off to a flier last weekend with a 4-0 victory over Wolves at Molineux, with new signing Tijjani Reijnders stealing the show in the Midlands.
The Tottenham match is not expected to be as easy, after Thomas Frank’s reign at Spurs got off to a positive start on Saturday with a 3-0 win over Burnley.
The North London club have been a bogey side for Man City in the past, but the Manchester outfit may have been unintentionally handed a boost by title rivals Arsenal.
Eberechi Eze on his knees after Crystal Palace defeated Manchester City in the FA Cup Final.
Photo by Jan Kruger – The FA/The FA via Getty Images
Arsenal hand Man City a boost by hijacking Tottenham’s deal for Eberechi Eze
Pep Guardiola does not have the best record against Tottenham since moving to England in 2016, as the legendary coach has faced Spurs on 23 occasions, recording 11 wins, three draws, and nine defeats when playing the North London club.
This is the first time the Man City boss will face a Tottenham side without Son Heung-min and Harry Kane, but Spurs still have weapons that can hurt the Manchester club in Brennan Johnson and Mohammed Kudus.
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At one point this week, it looked like Eberechi Eze would be a Tottenham player by the time they faced Man City on Saturday; however, Arsenal have hijacked their deal for the midfielder, who is now set to move to the Emirates Stadium for £67.5m with add-ons included.
Eberechi Eze expected to undergo his Arsenal medical on Friday ahead of his £60m plus add-ons transfer to Arsenal.
Set to be in the Palace squad first for tonight’s #UECL game against Fredrikstad before formalising the move.🩺 pic.twitter.com/YukqeU6E3R
— Ben Jacobs (@JacobsBen) August 21, 2025
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This may hand City a boost heading into their clash with Tottenham at the weekend, as they won’t have the quality England star to call upon at the Etihad Stadium, and the way this saga has played out has created a negative mood around the Spurs camp.
The difference in Tottenham may be just one or two per cent, but that is often noticeable at Premier League level.
The timing of the Eze deal may backfire on Arsenal in the long run, as Spurs taking points off Man City this weekend could be the difference in the title race come May.
Eberechi Eze’s record against Manchester City
Eze has been on the radar of Man City and the rest of the Premier League’s big six for some time, as the 27-year-old has been one of the best midfielders in the English top flight over the last two seasons.
Despite this, the England star has a poor record against City, having faced Guardiola’s side on nine occasions, losing six, drawing two, and winning just one.
That one was the biggest of them all when Crystal Palace defeated Man City in last season’s FA Cup final, a contest in which Eze scored, which took his personal tally against the Manchester club to two goals and one assist.
Eze might not have made a difference for Tottenham against Manchester City on Saturday, but the 27-year-old’s presence would not have hurt.
Arsenal have done City some sort of favour ahead of gameweek two in the Premier League, and only time will tell how that will impact the overall picture.