Tottenham Hotspur 0 Manchester City 1: match report

Blues get important three points on the road at Spurs in tense affair with VAR controversy at the end

Manchester City travelled to the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Wednesday night for what was set to be a tough contest against Spurs. They were coming off the back of a second consecutive defeat to Spurs away from home and knew that more dropped points meant potentially slipping down to 10th with the points gap being particularly small between the top half teams. Ederson started again in goal with Nunes, Khusanov, Dias, and Gvardiol in defence. Kovacic and Gonzalez started in the defensive midfield with Doku, Marmoush, Savio in attacking midfield with Haaland the sole striker.

Within a minute, the first chance had already gone to Spurs with a run in from Brennan Johnson who took a shot that was blocked before the follow up from Tel again. City already being troubled like they are used to being at this ground. The Blues quickly regained their composure though and started attacking with intensity, something they have desperately needed recently. Doku impressed again, troubling the Spurs defence, particularly Pedro Porro who often found himself having to chase Doku after he dribbled past him. On occasions when Doku has got the better of the full backs he has struggled with the final ball however that all changed tonight when Doku pass the ball into the box into Haaland who tapped the into the net to give City the lead after 13 minutes, a much needed winning start to the game for the Blues.

What ensued after was not short of action however, incredibly frustrating for City, on multiple occasions many would feel they should have scored again such as when Doku passed the ball in again to an unmarked Savio who shot first time way too heavily and the ball was sent flying over the bar. More frustration occurred moments later when a ball in from Savio found Haaland whose shot was saved by Vicario who once again played very well for Tottenham. While Spurs had their share of chances even they will have known that they were lucky to not be down by more goals and were relieved it was only 1. It was a totally different story to the previous time the two sides met at the Etihad, perhaps complete opposite.

As seen on many occasions this season, City pay the price for missed chances and at half time there were likely concerns that there would be another repeat of this. Sure enough, Spurs came out attacking better than they did in the first half but the City defence held firm with impressive performances from Khusanov and Ederson keeping the Blues in the lead. Son and Kulusevski were subbed on in Spurs attempts to chase for an equaliser but they continued to be blocked out. Yet City still continued to struggle getting possession back with the odd chance occurring but ultimately constantly being pushed back by the Tottenham defence. After changes from both sides, City overall were managing to see the game out. In the 93rd minute, it looked like City had sealed it for definite when Haaland dribbled into the box and then rebounded off his chest to make it 2-0. However, after a lengthy VAR check and what appeared to be “inconclusive” evidence of an offence the goal was ruled out anyway despite the ball bouncing off the hands of both Gray and Danso prior to contact with Haaland. Moments later, a heart in mouth moment occurred when a Spurs ball into the box fell to Sarr but the header was wide. The match ended 1-0 to City.

It is a much needed win for City that keeps them in the top 4 and one that will hopefully boost morale going forward for the rest of the season. It is only the third win for City against the big six (the other two being the double over Chelsea this season) and will be looking to build on this in the remaining months. They face Plymouth on Saturday next. However, for Spurs similar problems are occurring and in 13th place there will be questions regarding Postecoglu’s future.