Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 Manchester City
Heung-Min Son’s second half strike was enough to beat Manchester City and condemn Pep Guardiola to a fourth consecutive defeat at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
This Sunday afternoon fixture Premier League: Spurs vs Manchester City was the last of the first round in the English top flight and it delivered plenty of quality and drama and a shock result. The Harry Kane transfer saga dominated the pre-match Spurs vs Manchester City news and the England captain was neither in Spurs’ starting eleven nor on the bench, leading to the City fans taunting their rivals with the chant, ‘Harry Kane…he wants to be a Blue.’
But after a goalless first half Son gave Spurs a lead early in the second to leave the Sky Blue supporters hoping their chant was factually correct!
Highlights of the game
The champions came into the game in the knowledge that their three main rivals had all made convincing starts. Manchester United (5-1), Chelsea (3-0) and Liverpool (3-0) began with big wins and the pre-match Spurs vs Manchester City betting odds backed a victory for Guardiola’s men. And they started like a house on fire!
New recruit Jack Grealish started and, true to form, he ran at the Spurs defence and picked up a free-kick just outside the penalty area when Oliver Skipp resorted to chopping him down. Ilkay Gundogan’s dead ball kick flicked the top of the defensive wall and flew over, and from the resulting corner Fernandinho glanced a header just wide of the upright. Joao Cancelo was the next to try his luck and he fired a shot inches wide as City swarmed all over their hosts.
Spurs gradually got a foothold in the game and when Lucas Moura met a clearance from Ederson his shot was cleared by Gundogan on the goal-line. At the other end Riyad Mahrez had a great chance when the ball broke to him on the penalty spot but he got his shot horribly wrong when the net should have been bulging.
It had been an entertaining first half, but with no shots on target something had to change; and early in the second half Grealish created an opening for Gundogan but this time his shot was charged down. But then, with ten minutes of the second period gone we got our goal; and it was the hosts who took the lead. It was a rapid movement of the ball from Moura to Steven Bergwijn which opened up a chance for Son, and he left Nathan Ake standing as he steered his shot beyond Ederson and into the net.
Bergwijn had a chance to double the lead but his effort hit the side netting, while Manchester City stroked the ball around as if they thought they were ahead. Moura earned a booking when he was the next in line to foul Grealish, and City worked a brilliant free-kick as Gundogan fed Cancelo and his cross was steered narrowly wide by Ferran Torres.
With 20 minutes remaining Guardiola rang the changes, bringing Gabriel Jesus on to replace Raheem Sterling, and the Brazilian was in the action immediately, feeding Grealish who fired a well struck shot at Hugo Lloris from a tight angle. Then with another ten minutes gone, Guardiola threw on Kevin de Bruyne and he immediately gave Lloris his biggest test of the game so far, hammering a shot towards the corner, but the French stopper made the save. And then the Belgian slid a ball into the path of Torres but he shot straight at Lloris.
But the equaliser never came, Spurs celebrated and the Sky Blues scratched their heads.
Key statistics
The Sky Blues dominated much of this game, with 67 per cent possession, 18 shots to 14 and four to two on target. They had a pass completion of 86 per cent to Spurs’ 78 per cent and while they had two clear cut chances to Spurs’ zero, the hosts had the single most important stat in their favour.
1-0.
What’s next?
Pep Guardiola’s team are Premier League favourites, at odds of 1.74, and it’s already pretty clear that Manchester City are set to battle it out with the likes of Chelsea. This
was not the start Pep expected and he’ll be looking for a quick response. Here at SBOTOP we’ll be covering all the best action as it happens, with previews, betting tips and the latest news along the way. Next week the Sky Blues are at home to newly promoted Norwich City who took a 3-0 thumping from Liverpool on Saturday.
Meanwhile Nuno takes his Spurs team to his old stomping ground at Wolves where the hosts will be looking for a first point of the season, having lost to Leicester City in their opening match.
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