Nightmare FA Cup draw can give Man City a double Premier League title race boost vs Tottenham

Asked what he wanted to achieve this season after a third Premier League title in a row, and a historic treble, Pep Guardiola joked in the summer that all he wanted to do was score a goal away at Tottenham.

City have a record they would rather forget at the new Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Played five, lost five, scored zero. Guardiola knows it, and it's become a running joke in the City fanbase.

When City were drawn away at Spurs in the FA Cup fourth round this week, there were comments on social media that the best hope of progressing was to secure a 0-0 draw and bring the tie back to the Etihad. Or maybe, City can use the nightmare draw to their advantage.

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The two sides shared an entertaining 3-3 draw at the Etihad before Christmas, but City feel they threw away two points in that game. They are due to travel to Spurs for the return fixture on April 20, five games before the end of the campaign. If that wasn't a tantalising showdown anyway, City's wretched record adds a whole new dimension to a fixture that could define the title.

So the chance to break their Spurs away hoodoo in January, before that April league meeting, should be welcomed by Guardiola and his players - especially when Harry Kane has left North London and Heung-min Son is away at the Asian Games. With City spending a week before the game in warm weather training in Abu Dhabi, put simply, there has never been a better chance to play Spurs at their billion pound stadium.

If City can score, or even go as far as win, at their bogey ground, they can return in April knowing they