It’s definitely a case of what might have been for both these teams this season, with Tottenham Hotspur seeming likely to miss out on the chance of experiencing the top four yet again and Manchester City looking back and wondering how they gave up their title so easily.

While it is true that the table doesn’t lie – despite their struggles this season, Manchester City will go into the weekend in second place, though neighbours Manchester United could overtake them on Saturday – the numbers can sometimes appear kinder than the reality.

Yes, City currently only trail leaders Chelsea in the league, but while that sounds good, when you take into account the fact that they are 10 points behind Jose Mourinho’s men it begins to look far worse bearing in mind the financial outlay and their expectations at the start of the season.

Questions continue to arise regarding Manuel Pellegrini’s future, and with rumours regarding Real Madrid manager, Carlo Ancelotti, taking the hotseat at the Etihad Stadium rapidly gathering pace, it surely won’t be long until the Chilean is replaced.

Incredibly, the once constantly revolving managerial door at Spurs appears to have ground to a halt, as despite it being pretty much impossible for Mauricio Pochettino to finish in the top four this season, he has performed exceptionally well with a fairly average squad.

As well as this, he has made good use of the foundations that previous manager, Tim Sherwood, left behind before he was booted out of White Hart Lane – and this has proved to be an excellent decision judging by the form of Harry Kane, who looks every inch a top quality striker.

It is still far too early in Kane’s career to determine whether he can live up to the tag of “the next Alan Shearer”, but without him this season, Spurs would be looking at mid-table or even lower as they boast only a handful of players who are genuinely good enough for a top four-challenging side.

Kane is one of them and is joined by Hugo Lloris, Christian Eriksen and Jan Vertonghen, while Kyle Walker, Ryan Mason and Nacer Chadli sit in the ‘maybe’ pile. Everyone else in that side are – by-and-large – mid-table players, and Pochettino has worked wonders to get them into the top six.

As far as this fixture goes, however, the bookies are heavily leaning towards a City victory, with Pellegrini’s men at evens despite being the away side and Tottenham listed at 3/1, with a draw on offer at 14/5.

In the Battle of the Premier League Top Scorers 2014/15, Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero leads Harry Kane by just one goal, and is 15/4 to break the deadlock or evens to score at any point and add to his tally of 21. Kane, now on 20, is 13/8 to get on the scoresheet or 11/2 to open the scoring.