Sublime Spurs Beat City in Their Own Back Yard in Premier League Classic

Saturday 19th February 2022 - 5:30pm

Match Report

Manchester City 2 – 3 Tottenham Hotspur

Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester

Competition: English Premier League

"Pre-Match Thoughts – A rare Saturday watching Spurs! Difficult one to get excited about as we face a high flying Man City side on their own patch. On top of that, Skipp is still out injured, and so is another unnamed player due to COVID, Dier's back though, that should help sure up the defence.

Still... sometimes there's just no stopping Manchester City with the talent in their team. However, the likes of Kane and Son can prove unstoppable on their days too. It'll be interesting to see which Spurs side shows up, they're capable of springing a surprise if on form. Remember, we beat them 1-0 on the opening day of this season. Though with the team low on confidence having lost the last three, unfortunately I can't see it today. I think it'll be 3-1 City."

Conte made four changes from the side that lost to Wolves last week - Reguilón was the player out with COVID. Dier returned to take Sánchez's place, Royal came in for Doherty, a somewhat surprise first start for Kulusevski saw Moura miss out, and Højbjerg was chosen ahead of Winks to line-up alongside Bentancur in midfield.

4' GOAL! A dream start for Spurs! Davies picked out Kane in the centre of the field, with his back to goal, he played a peach of a pass first time out into the left wing that Son was busy racing down. He latched onto it in reams of space and carried it towards goal. On the edge of the area he was met by the outrushing Ederson, instead of shooting, Son squared to Kulusevski on his right, who coolly placed home through the legs of Cancelo and into the net. 0-1.

21' Sterling found Gündoğan in the area, Højbjerg got a foot in to hold him up, but it wasn't enough, as he retained possession and managed to whip a right-footed shot towards goal that had the beating of Lloris, but thankfully struck off the outside of the post.

City stroked it around nicely, teasing out an opening, but Spurs were standing strong with compact defending that allowed them to block most of their eventual efforts. The pressure was certainly building though.

33' Goal. Sterling sent a cross in, Lloris was down to smother it at the feet of De Bruyne, but somehow he spilled it out to Gündoğan, who snapped up the chance by smashing it into the net. Another bad error from our skipper Lloris. 1-1.

"Thoughts at Half-Time – Can't complain going in level. Lovely early goal, but since then it's been all City. Spurs have done a good job defending on the whole though. An unfortunate mistake from Lloris has helped them draw level, and they'll definitely come out second half all guns blazing to take the lead. Let's hope Spurs come out fighting too and manage to take something from this game."

The half began in much the same vein as City passed around patiently awaiting an opening, and Spurs sat in, keeping it compact, not diving in, and keeping good numbers behind the ball. It forced City into taking shots from distance or crossing in hoping for fortuitous flicks.

59' GOAL! Kane played a long ball from the right over towards Son, it was cut out by Diaz but he headed straight to Sessegnon who was quick to pass to Son on the top left corner of the area, he shifted it inside before curling into the path of Kane arriving by the 6-yard box, who side-footed it home beautifully into the top right corner. 1-2.

64' Bentancur broke forward by finding Sessegnon out wide and underlapping him for the return pass which Sessegnon provided. Bentancur played it first time inside to Son who allowed the ball to run across his body before slotting in Kane around the penalty spot, Kane attempted to slot it into the bottom right corner, but Ederson was quick off his line to save with an outstretched foot.

66' Gündoğan collected it on the edge of the area before unleashing a curling effort that Lloris sprung up magnificently to palm away from the top right corner. That made up for his earlier error.

74' Davies glided a long diagonal to Kulusevski in space on the right wing, he took it down with his torso, cut in towards the top corner of the box and attempted a cross, it deflected off a City player and found Kane at the far post, he bought it under control before smashing it into the bottom corner. Celebrations then switched sides though, as VAR ruled Kulusevski a fraction offside in the build-up.

76' Cancelo struck a vicious swerving effort from some distance, it flew through a crowd of bodies before being pushed away from finding the bottom corner by another excellent Lloris diving save.

There was a sustained period of heavy pressure from City, but Spurs were holding on, continuing to frustrate the home side.

90' Bernardo Silva received it down the left side of the area by the byline, Romero slid in to stop the cross, but in doing so saw it deflect off his raised arm. The ref played on initially but VAR interfered to pull it back for a penalty.

90'+2 Goal. Mahrez took the penalty and put it into the top right corner. 2-2.

90'+5 GOAL! Against all odds Spurs go up the other end and snatch a winner! Bentancur swept one out for Kulusevski to latch onto down the right side, he cut back onto his left and chipped a cross right onto the edge of the six-yard box, Kane rose up warrior-like with all his might to smash Walker out the way and head down into the right side of the net. 2-3!!!

"Thoughts at Full-Time – Wow... just wow. WHAT a game of football and WHAT a result for Spurs! Over the moon with the fight we showed today, so many positives to take away and push us on for the rest of the season. First time we've done the league double over City since 1987. A real special performance in a game that'll go down as a Premier League classic, and it was Harry Kane's day after all."

Tottenham Player Ratings

• 1. Hugo Lloris – 7 – Bad spill for the first goal, but credit to him for recovering so well. He made two world class saves at pivotal points in the match, and that helped inspire the team to march on and win it.

• 4. Cristian Romero – 9 – A tough, no nonsense, wall at the back. Just what we've been crying out for. He wins tackles, headers, makes passes, puts his body on the line. A real battling performance and we're lucky to have him. Unlucky to give away the penalty, it could have gone either way.

• 15. Eric Dier – 8 – A solid return for Dier. Brought organisation to the backline as we hoped he would, and but for a few sloppy passes, he did well.

• 33. Ben Davies– 8 – Played an incisive ball into Kane that led to the opening goal. Made an excellent block to deny a dangerous looking Foden shot. Struck a delightful diagonal over to Kulusevski for the goal that was ruled out. Back to form Ben Davies.

• 12. Emerson Royal – 6 – Showed a lack of crossing ability again. Tried a shot from distance that sailed over. Never really looks a threat on the ball, but did a decent job defensively, chipping in with some important blocks.

• 30. Rodrigo Bentancur – 7 – Surprisingly loose in possession at times, but showed some very nice touches in others. He's good at winning the ball back and made some well-executed tackles and interceptions. Another promising display from the new man.

• 5. Pierre-Emile Højbjerg – 8 – The cement mixer back in the heart of midfield, hassling and harrying his way around all game. Showed good leadership, won free-kicks to frustrate City, and gathered possession superbly on occasions.

• 19. Ryan Sessegnon – 6.5 – Quiet going forward, didn't see a whole lot of the ball. Linked up well with Bentancur in the build-up to the second goal though, and did a decent job defending.

• 21. Dejan Kulusevski – 9 – His first start for the club and what a start it was scoring inside five minutes with a well-taken finish. Showed good strength to hold up play. Assisted the goal that was disallowed, then assisted even better the one that won it with a delightful chipped ball into such a dangerous area. Shows good composure for a twenty-one year old, and this was a really promising performance from him on a big day.

• 7. Son Heung-min – 9 – Perfectly timed his lightning fast run to beat the offside trap then stayed calm to unselfishly assist the opener. Put one on a plate for Kane for the second. Ran his socks off before being subbed late on.

• 10. Harry Kane – 10 – Magnificent. He looked a cut above everyone else out there today, his performance just oozed class and dogged determination throughout. His pass on the turn to set Son away for the opener was nothing short of sublime. He put the second away like the deadly finisher he is, and like a man possessed rose up to nod home the winner deep into stoppage time. Simply world class from him. One of our own!

Substitutions:

• 7. Son Heung-min ⬅ 80' ➡ 27. Lucas Moura – 5 – Didn't really get involved.

• 12. Emerson Royal ⬅ 83' ➡ 2. Matt Doherty – 5 – Not a whole lot of involvement either.

• 19. Ryan Sessegnon ⬅ 90'+4 ➡ 6. Davinson Sánchez – N/A – On as a very late sub to add an extra man to the backline.

Man of the Match – 10. Harry Kane