Tottenham v Manchester City: Carabao Cup fourth round – live

It feels ridiculous to say so, but this is an absolutely gargantuan match for Tottenhamhotspurfootballclub. This cup was the last one they won, in 2008, and their desperation to break their spell without will only have increased following Ange Postecoglou’s insistence everyone recognise his success in winning second-season trophies with South Melbourne, Brisbane Roar, Yokohama F. Marinos and Celtic. As Roy Hodgson once chin-stroked, “My track record, if people bothered to study it, would put me in the same category as [Alex] Ferguson enjoys today, but people don’t talk about what I’ve done outside England … I’ve got an excellent track record in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy and in Denmark.”

It’s fair to say that Postecoglou’s lustre has dulled over the last year or so – laconic larrikining and homespun hometruths can only take you so far when your Spurs are spursy and getting spursier. The capitulation at Brighton was exactly what shouldn’t be seen a year-odd in, and the weekend loss to previously winless Crystal Palace could just as easily have happened under Christian Gross and Jacques Santini.

And yet there’ve been signs. Guillermo Vicario, Micky van de Ven and Destiny Udogie were fine signings, moving Dejan Kulusevski into midfield was a masterstroke, and it will soon be impossible to omit Mikey Moore. If Spurs play well, they’re a hard night for anyone and they’re also fun to watch – a crucial aspect for a club that reifies style in the absence of substance.

In the end, though, fun and style won’t keep Postecoglou in a job, winning games like this one will, and that’s easier said than done. It’s true that Pep Guardiola is without Rodri, Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Jérémy Doku, Jack Grealish, Oscar Bobb, but he has plenty of quality available nevertheless, and the four League Cups won under his command tell us how difficult his teams are to beat even when not at full strength, even if they seem to draw Rochdale at home in every round. However they might, as Eric Clapton almost sung, be vulnerable tonight, and even if they’re not, Spurs will get after them as though they are.

Kick-off: 8.15pm GMT