Manchester City @ 1/2
Tottenham Hotspurs @ 9/2
Draw @ 15/4
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Being a high-profile football manager is not one of life’s stress-free vocations. It comes packed tight with the stuff. If you haven’t got an MA in Stress (And How To Punch It Right In The Face) Studies from a prestigious university, you won’t even get an interview at a top club.
So much of football is beyond the control of the manager – sometimes all they can do is clench their fists, shriek impotently at the referee, or start a fight with Arsène Wenger.
Even managers who boast the most impeccable CVs – managers whose ‘my achievements’ section is much bigger than their ‘my interests’ entry – are familiar with this stress.
Pep Guardiola, for example, seemingly out of nowhere, arrives on the doorstep of Gameweek 12 nursing a painful, anxiety-inducing four match losing streak; the very first of his career. Will this quartet of blows have left a permanent scar? Will he feel comfortable confronting this new kind of pressure?
The fact that Pep has just signed a contract extension at Manchester City suggests he is keen to experience more touchline tension, regardless of the variety.
Sometimes all they can do is clench their fists, shriek impotently at the referee or start a fight with Arséne Wenger.
This weekend’s biggest game sees Manchester City host Tottenham Hotspur is a 5:30pm kick-off on Saturday.
Sir Alex Ferguson, famously, was very laid-back about the prospect of facing Spurs in a potentially tough fixture. But can Guardiola be similarly dismissive of the incoming threat? Based on the head-to-head record between the clubs, the answer is a surprising and resounding ‘no’: Tottenham Hotspur have won 6 of the last 12 meetings.
City will be hoping that the large number of their players who sat out the international break – Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Jérémy Doku, Matheus Nunes, and Manuel Akanji – have all recovered from their respective bouts of sudden and acute un-patriotism.
Being the manager of Spurs has rarely been a walk in the park. Stress-inducing events pelt you from all angles. Their recent 5-match winning run ground to a halt faster than Great Britain buckling under the extraordinary weight of 4 millimetres of snow.
The Premier League home defeat at the hands of Ipswich Town was especially exasperating. But there has also been an unsavoury incident off the pitch this week featuring Rodrigo Bentancur – the subsequent 6-match suspension for the Uruguayan will have further derailed their once-burgeoning momentum.
The image of Ange Postecoglou bent double on the touchline as his side failed to score a late sitter earlier in the season has become an internet meme, used to express feelings of profound demoralisation. Can he be upstanding in the face of his swelling stress this weekend?
Elsewhere in the Premier League, numerous eyes will be on Ruben Amorin, to see how he deals with the weight of enormous expectation that comes with being the latest lauded manager to try and resurrect Manchester United. The ‘Seven Stages of Disappointment’ cycle begins again for the Red Devils as they head to Ipswich for a 4:30pm kick-off on Sunday.
And the footballing weekend is concluded with the manager who is, perhaps, shouldering the most pressure of the whole division. West Ham United travel to Newcastle for some Monday night action – a journey which should give Julen Lopetegui plenty of time to gauge the mass of his burden.
Who, of all these acclaimed football managers, will be able to successfully manage their team as well as their escalating stress levels?
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