This ended up a far tighter victory than had initially appeared likely, but it will still have felt like a restorative evening’s work for Manchester City after a horribly damaging week.
Pep Guardiola’s side moved back into the top four with a timely win at Tottenham, a team who have made a habit of beating them this season, and City will cling to their first-half performance as reason to be positive, even if they ended up leaning on the excellence of their goalkeeper, Ederson, to maintain their lead late on.
The Brazilian’s smart low save from substitute Son Heung-min at 1-0 left the locals frustrated. Tottenham, initially such obliging hosts, will draw their own encouragement from their second-half revival, even if it yielded them no reward.
The visitors were the more threatening team through the opening exchanges, with the returning Erling Haaland eventually capitalising, converting Jeremy Doku’s low centre after a flowing move up-field. Savinho and Haaland missed glorious opportunities to add a second, both set up by the outstanding Doku, with City revelling in the wide open spaces on offer.
Tottenham, significantly second best, did not stir until Kevin Danso forced Ederson to tip over a header in the final few seconds before the interval. Yet they offered far more of a threat upon the resumption — Wilson Odobert was just unable to convert at the far post and Mathys Tel guided a shot wide — as they shifted the ball quicker and made life distinctly uncomfortable for the visitors.
Haaland thought he had added a second in stoppage time at the end, only for the effort to be ruled out for a handball, ensuring this stayed tense to the final whistle.
Jack Pitt-Brooke, Elias Burke and Anantaajith Raghuraman dissect the key talking points from the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
How did City look to use their front four?
This match marked the first time the front four of Doku, Haaland, Omar Marmoush and Savinho all started a game.
On numerous occasions this season, City have struggled to cover spaces in midfield and given Spurs are capable of hurting any team on transition, there were doubts over how the four-pronged attack would fare. Yet it worked well through the opening period, with City showing much more application and energy than they did in meek defeats to Real Madrid and Liverpool.
The front four alternated positions well. When Spurs were in their own third, they pressed as a quartet, with Doku and Savinho on either flank and Haaland and Marmoush through the middle. As Spurs progressed into midfield, City countered their build-up shape by having Doku drop into midfield alongside Mateo Kovacic and right-back Matheus Nunes, who inverted to great effect, while Savinho, Haaland and Marmoush formed a front three.
Their positional interchanges were evident in possession, too.
With the pace they had on the flanks, Haaland repeatedly dropped deep, while Marmoush and Savinho alternated well on the right wing.
City’s opener came following back-to-back driving runs from their own half by Marmoush and Savinho, with the latter finding Haaland in-field. Haaland laid it off for Nico Gonzalez, who found Doku. The Belgian crossed for Haaland to finish with freedom in the box after Savinho’s unmarked run had worried both Spurs centre-backs.
Pep Guardiola’s side have lacked this kind of fluidity in and out of possession across the pitch this season. Tottenham struggled as the quartet stretched their back line, with Doku, Savinho and Haaland all passing up presentable opportunities before the interval.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Was this a Tottenham selection with AZ in mind?
Now that Ange Postecoglou has players back, he can do something he has not been able to do for months: rotate.
This meant a surprising team selection, with three of Tottenham’s best players over recent weeks — Son Heung-min, Dejan Kulusevski and Djed Spence — starting on the bench.
On the one hand, it made sense. Kulusevski had played every single game for Spurs this season and has not been the same player of late as he was at the start of the season. Son has looked tired for a while, although he was better at Ipswich Town on Saturday. Spence has played a lot since he finally won Postecoglou’s trust. And Spurs have a Europa League trip to AZ next week.
That is the one competition they can still win and they need all their top players for that, but it did seem to cost Spurs a physical edge in the first half here, especially given Kulusevski and Son’s successes against City in the past.
As it was, the trio of high-profile absentees were summoned en masse from the bench midway through the second half with the home side still chasing the deficit shipped early. Their presence on the touchline had actually inspired those on the field to whip up some pressure; they entered the fray hoping to build on that burst of momentum.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
How Doku carried a threat
With Jeremy Doku’s pace and trickery, the last thing Postecoglou would have wanted was for him to bear down one-v-one on Pedro Porro with space in behind. Fortunately for City’s No 11, that’s what happened over and over again, particularly through the first half.
From a Tottenham perspective, the first warning sign came within 10 minutes when Doku charged down Porro on the left wing, throwing the former City man — Porro was contracted to City from 2019 to 2022 but never represented the first team — to the ground before the attack collapsed. Shortly after, Savinho, who stuck to the right flank allowing Marmoush to drop inside from the right striker position and create space on the wing, received a pass from his team-mate before driving inside.
The ball reached Doku to provide Haaland’s tap-in.
From there on, Doku had his opposite number on toast. Peter Crouch, a pundit on British broadcaster TNT Sports, described him as “unplayable”. Largely due to the threat carried by the Belgian, City should have considered themselves unfortunate not to be three or four up by half-time.
Elias Burke
How did Spurs make the second half more of a contest?
When City missed as many chances as they did in the first half, it seemed inevitable that they would pay for it later. Far too often this season they have ceded the initiative in the second halves of games and that came to the fore again.
Tottenham came out the more energised team after the break, with Odobert and Brennan Johnson working harder to get on the ball, pulling City’s defenders with them. This, combined with a drop in defensive intensity from both Savinho and Doku, allowed Porro and Destiny Udogie to move higher up the pitch.
Porro delivered a couple of fantastic passes into the box, with Odobert just failing to put one of those away at the back post. Udogie, for his part, repeatedly ran at Abdukodir Khusanov, who often filled in at right-back with Nunes inverting into central areas. He almost set up Tel after dispossessing Savinho, only for Nunes to nick the ball off Tel’s toes.
As City scrambled to close down the wide areas, Rodrigo Bentancur, James Maddison and Lucas Bergvall grew in influence, too, outnumbering City’s midfield of Nico and Kovacic as Nunes dropped deeper to protect the back line.
Tottenham’s substitutes further added to City’s troubles. Son and Spence combined well on the left, while Kulusevski, deployed down the middle, varied his movement well to keep City’s defence on their toes.
If not for multiple crucial interventions from Nunes, Ruben Dias and Ederson, the hosts could easily have drawn level.
Anantaajith Raghuraman
Should Tottenham be concerned?
This was the end of Spurs’ mini-revival, a first league defeat after a run of three straight wins that had started to move them back up the table.
As a game, it felt slightly low-stakes, neither of these teams anywhere near where they want to be in the league but with their eyes on other prizes. Spurs were certainly very poor in the first half, cut open every single time by City. They were lucky to make it into the break only 1-0 down. But they were by far the better team in the second half, making enough chances to win the game.
Odobert grew into it on his first start since September. Johnson improved as the game went on, too. Substitutes Pape Matar Sarr and Son both could have scored.
City had a second goal disallowed at the end, but if Spurs had played all game like they did for their best spells, they could have won.
Jack Pitt-Brooke
Would anyone have impressed Thomas Tuchel?
Thomas Tuchel was in attendance with an eye on announcing his first England squad for next month’s internationals, and a couple of players made a positive early impression.
James Maddison, the most established England international on display from a Spurs perspective — which says a lot given he has only won seven caps — was tidy in possession, even if there wasn’t much end product. He created four chances on the night before being substituted in the 82nd minute, but he will have impressed the defensive-minded German with his industry out of possession, winning three tackles and seven ground duels.
Archie Gray, an under-21 international, was the standout for Spurs, delivering a composed performance while Haaland lurked in front. Though he could not prevent Haaland’s goal, he was up for the physical battle and distributed the ball well. The March break may come too early, but it’s no wonder many have him earmarked as a future England international.
Phil Foden and Djed Spence came off the bench but had little opportunity to show what they’re about in front of the new England manager. Spence, who has been excellent for Spurs since forcing his way into Postecoglou’s plans in December, is looking for his debut cap — and first involvement in England’s youth teams since 2023 — and his versatility in either full-back position will do his prospects no harm.
Elias Burke
What did Ange Postecoglou and Pep Guardiola say?
Postecoglu to TNT Sports on the performance: “The first half was difficult. They obviously had the ascendancy, scored and had a couple of good chances. We sort of hung on in there, but second half we kind of dominated. We knew City would come out pretty strong, but also that we would finish strong. It was a matter of hanging in there.
“First half we gave the ball away, we were a bit wasteful, and allowed them to get a roll of it which you don’t want to do against City. But second half we were much better. We dominated the ball, we dominated territory, we pinned them back. We were just missing the goal, that cutting edge in the final third. We certainly created enough opportunities.”
Guardiola to TNT Sports on the display: “Really happy for the victory, for three points, because we needed it. The second half was open because we didn’t close the game in the first half. We had too many clear chances. For the quality we have, we have to convert them. Unfortunately it didn’t happen and we knew we were going to suffer. But the guys fought a lot and I was really pleased. Always, here, it’s a difficult, difficult place to come.”
And on Doku: “The wingers, Savinho and Jeremy (Doku), were outstanding. Jeremy is a threat, a guy who is good in the final third. He made an incredible assist in the first half. In football, when one player dribbles, he opens up everything.”
What next for Tottenham Hotspur?
Thursday, March 6: AZ (Away), Europa League, 5.45pm UK, 12.45pm ET
A trip to the Netherlands awaits next week and a reunion with former Tottenham youngster Troy Parrott. AZ are currently fourth in the Eredivisie.
What next for Manchester City?
Saturday, March 1: Plymouth Argyle (Home), FA Cup fifth round, 5.45pm UK, 12.45pm ET
The Championship side are still in the division’s relegation zone but, under Miron Muslic, are showing signs of life and knocked out Liverpool in the previous round.
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(Top photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)