City preview with Phil McNulty, BBC Sport

Chief football writer for the BBC Sport website, Phil McNulty has worked at the very highest level of football reporting for years - including five World Cups. He was at our historic first Premier League match at the new stadium against Palace last week and covered both FA Cup semi-finals at Wembley at the weekend, including City's win against Brighton. With a neutral's cap on, he's perfectly placed to preview tonight's huge Champions League quarter-final, first leg - the first European night under the lights at our new home.

Form

Phil: "From a Spurs perspective I think the move to the new stadium – which is as magnificent as everybody says it is – has come at the perfect time for everyone connected with the club. Spurs had suffered a dip in form in the Premier League before beating Crystal Palace and now players and supporters can savour a huge Champions League occasion so quickly after moving in. This is the sort of night the stadium was built for and I can see Spurs being really lifted by their surroundings and also by the fact they have already played and won there.

"As for Manchester City, they are in superb form and have confirmed their place in the FA Cup Final and remain on course for the quadruple of Champions League, Premier League and now the FA Cup after winning the League Cup. They will go into this as favourites but manager Pep Guardiola will know the huge threat Spurs will pose and he will hope the heavy programme does not take a physical and mental toll on his players.

"This is a meeting of two high-quality sides."

Key players

Phil: "Harry Kane is always my answer to this one because we are talking about world-class striker who can score goals against anyone – he will be Spurs big hope to make the defining contribution, although as with Manchester City, there are plenty of his colleagues who will also have a big say.

"I’ll go a bit left field and away from the obvious for Manchester City, although you cannot go wrong when you flag up the creativity of the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva, Bernardo Silva, Raheem Sterling and of course Sergio Aguero and others. I’m a huge admirer of Fernandinho in midfield. The Brazilian is an outstanding operator who can control the tempo of games while breaking up and creating. In some respects he is the player Guardiola struggles to adequately replace when he is not available. City will need to decide on his full fitness after injury but Guardiola will have been delighted to have him back in contention against Brighton in the FA Cup semi-final."

Expected tactics/approach

Phil: "I think we will see a familiar approach from both sides – although it will be interesting to see if the two-leg Champions League format adds a layer of caution. Spurs will know the onus is on them to try and take an advantage to Etihad Stadium and Mauricio Pochettino is a progressive attacking manager. He will not want his side to sit back but he must also know he cannot leave his side to exposed to City’s quality.

"Guardiola’s methods are tried and trusted. It is a fluid passing style that has graced the Premier League in his three seasons in Manchester. It will be interesting to see if Guardiola makes any tactical adjustments as they caught a real cold in another all-Premier League meeting at this stage of the Champions League last season when they were over-run by Liverpool and were 3-0 down by half-time. It left City with too much to do in the second leg and Guardiola will no doubt take lessons from that game.

"I still expect a very attractive attacking game but both managers will have it in their minds that there is still the second leg to come. They may not be able to win it on Tuesday night but they will certainly not want to lose it, as City effectively did at Anfield last year."

Prediction

Phil: "Tough occupation this but I am going to go for a score draw, which would make City favourites for the second leg but this Spurs side has more than enough quality to get a goal of their own at Etihad Stadium."