Sherwood confident of stemming Man City flow

When the two sides met in November, Manuel Pellegrini's side ran out 6-0 winners at the Etihad Stadium, and was the beginning of the end for Sherwood's predecessor Andre Villas-Boas.

However, Sherwood has got a plan to stop City adding to their 63 league goals so far this season and has called on his side to turn the pressure onto City with their own attacking play.

He said: "We can't worry about them, we have to be responsible to make sure we're concentrated and defend very well at all times.

"But I think we also need to see if there's anything we can do to affect them. And there is. There will be weaknesses in their play and hopefully we can try and exploit some of them.

"If you don't stem the flow, they can be home and dry very quickly. We can't afford a capitulation like we saw at the Etihad.

"Their biggest strength, Man City, is when they attack. So let's hope that we can try and make them defend as much as possible."

Sherwood was also keen to stress Lewis Holtby and Etienne Capoue would be staying at White Hart Lane, and were both pushing for starting roles, despite respective January links to Schalke and Napoli.

"I'm happy with the squad we've got," he added. "I do trust this group of players to take us to where we need to be.

"I like Lewis, he's a good lad (and is) one of the best trainers we have.

"Same with Etienne, he's a good and a good trainer. He's not given me a moment's problem and I don't expect him to be a problem.

"I'm getting to know Etienne now as well. So he's at the forefront of my mind at the moment."