City fall to defeat at Spurs

Manchester City F.C.

·21 November 2020

City fall to defeat at Spurs

Goals from Heung-min Son and Giovani Lo Celso consigned Manchester City to a second defeat of the season, as Tottenham Hotspur reaped the rewards of their counter-attacking display.

Spurs took an early lead when Son fired through Ederson’s legs to score for the ninth time this season and Lo Celso drilled under the Brazilian to wrap up the points 35 seconds after coming on as a second half substitute.

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Both teams had goals disallowed, with Harry Kane flagged for offside, whilst Aymeric Laporte’s curling strike was ruled out after referee Mike Dean checked the pitch-side VAR monitor and determined the ball had hit Gabriel Jesus’ arm in the build-up.

City were on the front foot for much of the contest, but were unable to find a way through the home side’s stubborn defence.

What happened

City got off to the worst possible start as Son took advantage of our high defensive line, latching onto Tanguy Ndombele’s ball over the top and calmly converting Jose Mourinho’s side’s first shot of the game.

From there, Spurs sat deep and looked to counter and it worked wonderfully as Steven Bergwijn, Son and Harry Kane combined to slice City open, only for the latter to stray offside as he applied the finishing touch to the Korean’s pass across goal.

The visitors were assured in possession, but struggled to penetrate the wall of white shirts.

Laporte thought he’d bagged an equaliser, finishing like a seasoned striker from Jesus’ cutback, but the celebrations proved premature when the Brazilian was penalised for handball as he brought Rodrigo’s cross under control in the build-up.

The Spaniard and Ferran Torres both sent efforts straight at Hugo Lloris, but for all City probed, the North Londoners’ fast breaks created the better chances.

But for a heavy touch Son would have scored after rounding Ederson from Kane’s slide-rule ball, but Lo Celso made no mistake when he was fed by his captain, extending Spurs’ lead they turned defence into attack in two passes.

Pep Guardiola sent on Phil Foden and Raheem Sterling in a bid to inspire a fightback, but the home side’s defence held firm.

Ruben Dias had an excellent chance to pull one back in the dying minutes, but his header from Kevin De Bruyne’s cross was straight at Lloris.

What it means

We remain 10th in the Premier League table, with 12 points from eight games.

That could change depending on other result this weekend, with Arsenal, West Ham United, Manchester Unite and Leeds United all capable of leapfrogging us should they win.