Twelve days on since the two sides met in the Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspur met once more at the Etihad stadium, this time in the Premier League with Manchester City intent on revenge.
After the drama of VAR in the Champions League on Wednesday night, Mauricio Pochettino made five changes with forgotten man Vincent Janssen on the bench. City were out for revenge as they looked to go back to the top of the table with Spurs also needing points to maintain their top four hopes.
Manchester City on The Hunt for Revenge
Vulnerability
The atmosphere was emotional inside the Etihad and, after just four minutes, youngster Phil Foden gave City the lead. It was after four minutes that City took the lead on Wednesday and they followed suit here. Sergio Aguero looked certain to score but intelligently headed the ball across goal for the onrushing Foden to head home instead. As so often this season, Tottenham looked vulnerable at the back and the marking was non-existent.
Manchester City were also poor at the back. The defence were far too high and Tottenham could easily have been 3-1 up within the first 20 minutes were it not for some last-ditch tackling and positive goalkeeping from Ederson Moraes. Son Heung-min, twice, and Christian Eriksen both had the chances to give Spurs the lead. After 20 minutes in the Champions League, it was already two apiece. In this match, only the one goal separated the teams.
Juan Foyth and Ben Davies at full-back both look very uncomfortable with Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling giving them the runaround.
VAR Once More a Topic of Debate
VAR played a part in Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League progression at the expense of Manchester City and had it been in play in this match, City may well have been the profiteers. Jan Vertonghen swept Bernardo Silva’s leg away in the first half and VAR would surely have called a penalty kick. Toby Alderweireld seemed to handle in the second half and VAR would certainly have taken a closer look at the incident. Then Christian Eriksen floated a ball over to Dele Alli who tried to control the ball only for Kyle Walker to knock the ball out for a corner with his arm. Once again it was a stonewall penalty and had VAR been used it would have been given.
Tottenham Chances Kept Coming and Coming as Manchester City Look Nervous
Not many teams will get the number of chances that Tottenham Hotspur created here. Four clear chances in the first half were followed by more in the second period. Son once again missed chances that you would expect him to score along with Eriksen, Danny Rose and Lucas Moura. The pressure of the title race is starting to show for City and they looked nervous every time Tottenham attacked. John Stones had a torrid afternoon and Ederson saved his defence on more occasions than his manager would have liked.
City Back on Top after Riding Their Luck to Gain Bittersweet Revenge
Whilst there was just the one goal on this game to follow the seven-goal thriller in midweek, this was still a pulsating game of football. Tottenham made five changes but constantly threatened the Manchester City goal and had they been more clinical in front of goal would have taken all three points. However, City were dogged without being pretty and held on for a win that brought them bittersweet revenge and takes them to the top of the table for now.
Tottenham now face Brighton & Hove Albion at home on Tuesday night needing a win to keep their top four dreams alive. It was a good performance but they won’t want to rely on winning the Champions League to make sure of being in that competition next season. On today’s performance though they should have no concerns.
Manchester City now have the Manchester derby to look forward to as they look to win the title.
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