Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino expects Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus to feature against his team this weekend. Jesus was signed by City more than 6 months ago, but he was just unveiled by the club as he spent the last 6 months on loan at Brazilian outfit Palmeiras. He helped the club, where he started his career, win the league title and he comes to Etihad stadium on a high. His arrival will also help opposition manager Pep Guardiola substantially increase his forward options especially at a time when the club has been finding it difficult to score goals.
It has been suggested that the presence of Jesus will help City since he has an unknown factor about him. Yet, it may not be the case after Pochettino claimed that he knows everything about the 19-year-old striker. Pochettino said:
“I know him well already because I went to see his national team in Brazil. He’s not a proper striker, more a second striker. Pochettino said, as quoted by the Express Sport.
“But he’s very young, he has a lot of potential and is very talented. Maybe he’ll be on the pitch or the bench.”
It does not come as a surprise that the Spurs manager has already scouted the player. The Argentine boss would always be expected to be top of his game when it comes to South American players. Jesus may be on the bench after having just completed his signing, but he expects him to come at some time in the game especially City are not getting the results that they expect. Spurs have the opportunity to inflict more misery upon Manchester City, who have just lost their previous match 4-0 against Everton.
On the other hand, a similar score – but in favour of Spurs – help the Pochettino’s team move to the second spot in the table. Pochettino has tried to remain grounded and says that all the top 6 teams should be wary of one another considering that the gap is almost negligible. Even though second-placed Tottenham and Manchester United may be separated by 4 places in the table, the real gap between the two teams is just five points – less than two wins. As a result, it is becoming increasingly hard to predict the Premier League considering that Spurs were even struggling to get into the top five a few months ago.
The weekend is a great test for both teams and the City side will have every reason to fear Spurs after having already lost to the North London outfit earlier in the season. The chance to do a double over a Guardiola team does not happen always, but Pochettino still reckons that the former Barcelona manager is one of the best in the world even after his recent struggles. Many have questioned Guardiola’s methods over the last few weeks, but it was not long ago that Pochettino’s training regime and intensity of Spurs in the games was questioned. Yet, he has managed to turn everything around.
