Pep Guardiola's side have struggled in the league of late, losing three of their last seven games.
And their leaky defence was on full display last weekend when they were thrashed by Everton 4-0.
Meanwhile Tottenham have been scoring for fun, something they showed when they beat West Brom 4-0 last weekend.
To get them through the clash at the Eithad, Keown says City could use an old trick from his Arsenal playing days to help them.
"Pep Guardiola cannot ignore the defensive side of the game," he told the Daily Mail.
"If City are going to stop in-form Harry Kane and Dele Alli, they need to be much better defensively and become harder to beat.
"There are some players who do not react when the ball is lost and are only prepared to work again when their team win the ball back.
"There has to be a call to defend and to get back into shape.
"At Arsenal, whenever we were under the cosh we would call 'Shape'.
"It got the team back into a protective shell for five minutes to see us through the danger and then we could go out and play."
