Pep Guardiola’s side aiming to close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal after falling to defeat to Manchester United on Saturday.
Spurs have been something of a bogey side in recent years with the London Club winning four of the last five games against the Blues.
Harry Kane scored an injury time winner the last time they came to the Etihad Stadium, and Goater believes that stopping the England striker will be key to getting back to winning ways.
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“In terms of why they’ve been able to [beat City] for a period of time, I can’t quite answer that,” the former City forward said.
“What I can say is that Harry Kane knows that the best manager in the world, wanted him, liked him, admires him, and there’s no better feeling for him as a player than coming to the Etihad to play against a team that plays the best football and say I’m going to show the manager and everyone around the world why I’m a good player and why he wanted me.
“So he should be feeling confident and Harry Kane is key and when he drops, we need to get people around him, to snuff out his passing because his passing his quality when he drops deep.”
City have lost back-to-back games for the first time since August 2021 following the loss to Southampton in the Carabao Cup.
While Pep Guardiola said the Saints were the better team, Goater said City were on top at Old Trafford with the only regret that they didn’t get a second goal after Jack Grealish’s opener.
“It was all going according to the gameplan,” he said. “I felt that City’s plan was to keep the ball and kill United with 1,000 passes. If you keep the ball, it doesn’t allow the crowd to get into the game and it doesn’t allow an atmosphere to be generated.
“[A second goal] was the only thing missing. I have no doubt that will be the one reflection that Pep would have thought – we needed that second goal.
“He will probably reflect and think where could we a bit more forward or aggressive in the final third to go for that goal.
“For me it was total domination of keeping the ball, keeping the crowd out of the game and United didn’t know whether to stick or twist. They wanted to press but knowing that if they did press, we’ll pick them off.”
Watch Shaun reflect on the Manchester derby and look forward to Spurs with Alistair Mann in the video above...
