The Premier League is back after yet another international break and all eyes will be on Manchester as its two sides look to get back on track.

Manchester City will play host to Tottenham Hotspur as they aim to recover from their worst run of form in eight years following four successive defeats in all competitions.

Meanwhile in the red half of the city, Manchester United travel to Ipswich Town for what will be Ruben Amorim’s first game at the helm.

City odds on to bounce back

City are 2/1 on favourites to beat Tottenham, who were stunned last time out by Premier League new boys Ipswich.

They will also be boosted by the news that Pep Guardiola has agreed to a contract extension, keeping him at the Etihad Stadium until 2027 regardless of the outcome of the 115 charges against the club.

Speaking on The Assist, Racing Post’s tipster Mark Langdon described the news as “a great boost” for the side.

He said: “It’s never an ideal situation when a manager thinks it’s the last season. It’s almost that the farewell becomes more important than the actual matches and now everybody can get their head down.

“Man City will look to try to get back to being the Man City that they have been over the last five years. I think too much of this season they’ve spent worrying about Rodri’s injury, Guardiola’s future and the charges that are hanging over them. 

“They just need to get back to playing football and playing well because I don’t think they’ve done enough of that this season.”

Saturday’s visitors to the Etihad have been wildly inconsistent this year. They knocked Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup and registered a big win over Aston Villa, however, they have also lost to Crystal Palace, Galatasary and Ipswich in recent weeks.

Ange Postecoglou’s side’s attention to detail is “frustratingly poor” according to the show’s other tipster Dan Childs, leading them to concede poor goals despite performing well across a number of metrics.

Looking ahead to the game, the duo both predict a win for the home side in a high-scoring game.

Langdon’s best bet for the game is a Manchester City 2-1 win, priced at 17/2, while Childs is less specific, predicting a Manchester City win and over 2.5 goals, currently at 10/11.

“Spurs often give teams a leg up and if City get their noses in front and the crowd get going, I can see it getting ugly for Spurs,” Childs explained. 

Optimism for Manchester United

As mentioned, Amorim’s first assignment as Manchester United manager is a trip south to Portman Road on Sunday afternoon. 

The former Sporting Lisbon man was bullish in his first press conference despite his side’s poor start to the season and he stated that he “truly believes” in the players at his disposal.

Langdon agreed that there is room for optimism for Manchester United fans following his appointment.  

“I’m really excited to see how he does,” said Langdon. “It’s a good opportunity for Amorim because Manchester United I don’t think can go much lower, it feels like you can really only get better from here and that’s always a great place I think for a new manager to start.

“I think there are players there that have been massively underperforming that just need a manager to get them going again. [Kobbie] Mainoo for instance, we haven’t seen the best of him and he looked like he could be a world-beater at times.” 

Despite his positive outlook, when it comes to the betting markets Langdon is backing Ipswich frontman Liam Delap to find the back of the net at 10/3. The youngster has scored six goals in just 11 appearances this season so far.

Images from Manchester United’s training sessions have shown Amirom implementing his preferred 3-4-3 formation and Langdon believes that Delap can take advantage of any “settling-in period” for the new system.

Childs is also confident in Ipswich to back up their win over Tottenham. His best bet is Ipswich or draw double chance at 5/4.

Childs said: “I would say it’s quite a tricky test given that Ipswich have been pretty competitive this season. They had that fantastic win against Spurs and are going to be absolutely buoyant now. 

“They’ve drawn earlier this season with [Aston Villa] and with Brighton and on the form of the first 11 games, Villa and Brighton are better than United this season, so why can’t they get a result here at home? I think they are well worth backing.”