Manchester City will have to find a way of beating Tottenham at home for the first time in the league under Pep Guardiola if they are to secure another Premier League title. Arsenal have kept up the pressure with a hard-fought win against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
That win means Manchester City cannot afford to drop points and will now have to do what they have never done under Guardiola which is to win in north London against Tottenham.
For Spurs, they are caught in the web of either seeing all hopes of Champions League football evaporate or winning a game and essentially handing the title to their north London rivals.
Ange Postecoglou saw his team end their four-game losing streak at the weekend and cut down the points between themselves and Aston Villa to just four with two games to go. The Lilywhites will need Villa to lose their final two games or at least fail to win both while they win their remaining games to go above them and secure Champions League football.
It is what you describe as being between a rock and a hard place as a win has both positive and negative implications for the Postecoglou side.
The expectation is that this will be a game keenly contested with small margins and decided by the tiniest of details. Radu Dragusin might have to come in for Oliver Skipp and Micky van de Ven might be forced to play as a left-back.
So with that in mind, this is the team we anticipate the Spurs boss might put up.