Straight
Pep Guardiola came up with a game and another happened. Manchester City are stuck chaining back-to-back home defeats at home and missing a chance to move closer to Arsenal in the table. The Premier League champions (1-0) lost to a highly successful Tottenham in north London. For the first time this season, Spurs have beaten a rival who is ahead of them in the standings. They made it in time to stay in contention for fourth place and maintain their status as a Champions League side. He’s now fifth, a point behind Newcastle, an unexpected guest at the party. Above all, everything stays the same. Arsenal are five points clear of City with a game in hand. The first duel between the two on the 15th is on the horizon.
1
Lloris, Cristian Romero, Eric Dier, Ben Davies, Rodrigo Bentancur, Emerson, Perisic (Ryan Sessegnon, min. 78), Hojbjerg, Dejan Kulusevski (Davinson Sánchez, min. 88), Kane and Heung-Min Son (Yves Bissouma, min .84)
0
Ederson Moraes, Aké, Manuel Akanji, Walker, Rico Lewis, Mahrez (De Bruyne, min. 58), Grealish, Bernardo Silva (Gündogan, min. 84), Rodrigo, Erling Braut Haaland and Julián Álvarez
Goals 1-0 mins 14: Kane.
referee Andy Madeley
Yellow cards Rodrigo Bentancur (min. 22), Cristian Romero (min. 25), Perisic (min. 75), Ederson Moraes (min. 82), Walker (min. 96) and Grealish (min. 97)
It all started with Kevin de Bruyne on the bench, an exceptional event. “Tactical reasons,” said Guardiola at the end. With the result in hand there is an argument to criticize his coach who wanted to bat and found an ordeal. Guardiola looked for shortcuts, putting Julián Álvarez and Erling Haaland in the same eleven but they denied him paths to that double striker flanked by Mahrez and Grealish, two of the manager’s favorites of late. In midfield he was armed with Rodri and Rico Lewis, the 18-year-old boy who is being boiled at City to operate in the role of winger and midfielder who made his fortune with João Cancelo, who is now on loan at Bayern . Bernardo Silva acted as a hinge. The plan didn’t work out. Tottenham found themselves without major problems and grew even stronger when Kane punished a mistake by Rodri in releasing the ball just before the quarter-hour mark. It wasn’t the best game for the Spanish side’s midfielder.
Kane celebrated a goal with special flair, number 200 in the Premier, 267 in his career at Tottenham to become the club’s top scorer, ahead of the legendary Jimmy Greaves, a world champion. “It was magical,” Kane said at the end of the game. His joy was offset by Haaland’s despondency, who left without a single goal and, what is most amazing, without a single touch of the ball in the opponent’s penalty area. “Haaland is unique. All of a sudden he’s not scoring and there are questions about whether we’re playing better with him, but I didn’t hear anyone say that when he scored his 25th goal of the season the other day,” said Kyle Walker, one of the heavyweights in the dressing room the city.
Tottenham have lost their manager Antonio Conte, who is recovering from gallbladder surgery. It was a solid team, coalescing as the minutes went by, alternating periods of calm with moments of fear. Mahrez could have hurt him on the edge of the break with a shot that went off the bar. And when Guardiola called Kevin de Bruyne, they settled into their seat even more. “I was looking for the last pass,” explained the coach. But this passport did not come. Julián Álvarez, who had more participation than Haaland, watched the equalizer in a table action that went with all spurs under the crossbar near the post.
It seems to be a witch thing, maybe the explanation is more rational. City get stuck visiting Tottenham’s new stadium, where they’ve been five times and not only have they lost every time, they haven’t even scored a goal. “It’s not easy to find an explanation,” Guardiola summed up.
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