Manchester City edged past Tottenham Hotspur with a 1-0 victory in the Premier League on Wednesday evening.
After a somewhat sloppy opening to the match where both teams just traded overhit long balls over the top, City took the lead in the 12th minute. A nice break from the away side saw the ball get to the feet of Jeremy Doku down the left flank and the Belgian picked out Erling Haaland with the help of a slight deflection and the big forward routinely slotted home from inside the six-yard box.
The first half ended 1-0 to City, but Tottenham would've felt extremely lucky to go in just one goal down at the break as they were by far second best all throughout the match and only managed two attempts on goal in the opening 45 minutes.
Late into the match, Spurs had a good attempt on goal which was saved very well by Ederson, who did well to get down so quickly. The Brazilian, up to this point, didn't have much to do but he clearly stayed alert and switched on.
The match ended 1-0 to Manchester City but not without controversy. Erling Haaland made it 2-0 in the last minutes of the match but controversially had his goal ruled out by VAR despite the ball seemingly coming off the big Norwegian's chest, not his arm.
Match Highlights
Tottenham Hotspur Player Ratings
GK: Guglielmo Vicario - 7.5/10
Was kept busy all throughout the match but performed well and made several fantastic saves.
RB: Pedro Porro - 6/10
Really struggled defensively up against Doku and didn't contribute offensively as much as he normally does, even though his attacking output improved in the second half.
CB: Archie Gray - 7/10
Tidy on the ball and made several good blocks and clearances to keep his team in the match at different stages of the match.
CB: Kevin Danso - 8/10
Made some really good tackles and dealt with the presence of Haaland well. Danso was also quality in possession of the ball.
LB: Destiny Udogie - 6/10
Unaware of a lot of Savinho's runs in behind the defence, which caused his teammates some problems throughout the match.
CM: Rodrigo Bentancur - 7.5/10
Made some good tackles and battled really hard in midfield. Bentancur was also a good presence in the box when Spurs got corners.
CM: Lucas Bergvall - 7/10
Just like Bentancur, Bergvall also worked really hard in midfield and put his body on the line, but he was also very good at bringing the ball out of defence and travelling with the ball.
AM: James Maddison - 7/10
Had some nice touches and moments with the ball, but the attacking players around him weren't showing enough off the ball for him to find them.
RW: Brennan Johnson - 5.5/10
Didn't see much of the ball down the right flank, but even when he did, he was either dispossessed fairly easily or gave away the ball.
ST: Mathys Tel - 5/10
The youngster was pretty much anonymous up front. He hardly touched the ball and missed a pretty good chance at close range in the second half before being substituted.
LW: Wilson Odobert - 6.5/10
Looked threatening when dribbling with the ball and taking on players but did lack some end product and missed a decent chance early in the second half.
SUB: Heung-Min Son - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
SUB: Djed Spence - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
SUB: Pape Sarr - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
SUB: Dejan Kulusevski - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
SUB: Timo Werner - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
Manchester City Player Ratings
GK: Ederson - 8/10
Stayed switched on and alert as even though he didn't have much to do during the match, he made a very good save late in the match to keep his side in the lead.
RB: Matheus Nunes - 6.5/10
Looked shaky when defending against Odobert but kept his head well when under pressure.
CB: Abduokdir Khusanov - 8/10
Read the game exceptionally well at times. The youngster was good playing the ball out from the back but he also defended very well when called into action.
CB: Ruben Dias - 7.5/10
Formed a good partnership with Khusanov and didn't really put a foot wrong during the match.
LB: Josko Gvardiol - 7/10
A solid performance from the Croatian. Gvardiol wasn't outstanding but he was solid and kept the defence together while under pressure.
CM: Nico Gonzalez - 6.5/10
Didn't see much of the ball and didn't contribute much to the match. The Spaniard was substituted in the latter stages of the match.
CM: Mateo Kovacic - 7.5/10
Did a really good job of retaining the ball and calming others around him down when Spurs had their moments of pressure. Kovacic was good on the ball and also contributed well defensively and in the pressing department.
AM: Omar Marmoush - 6.5/10
The Egyptian's delivery from set pieces was pretty good and he looked sharp, but he didn't get involved enough to make anything significant happen.
RW: Savinho - 6/10
Had a strong first half where he looked dangerous, but in the second half he dropped off and was quite ineffective. The tricky winger missed a really good chance in the first half to double his side's lead but he scuffed the shot.
ST: Erling Haaland - 7.5/10
Took his goal well but didn't get involved much despite making some good runs through the middle of the Spurs defence.
LW: Jeremy Doku - 8.5/10
Looked extremely dangerous every single time he took the ball and ran at Porro. Doku used his pace and trickery very well and provided a great assist for Haaland also.
SUB: Bernardo Silva - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
SUB: Phil Foden - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
SUB: James McAtee - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
SUB: Jack Grealish - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
SUB: Ilkay Gundogan - N/A
Didn't do much after coming onto the pitch.
Man of the Match
Jeremy Doku
Even though Manchester City lost to Liverpool on Sunday afternoon, huge positives were taken from the match due to the outstanding performance of Jeremy Doku, and the pacy Belgian was terrific once again.
Every single time he picked up the ball, Doku never looked back and just looked to drive forward and cause the Spurs defence problems and that is exactly what he did. Pedro Porro is no slouch, but Doku's trickery and pace made him look like an amateur at times. As well as being just a general nuisance, he also provided a really good assist for Erling Haaland's goal in the first half, which proved to be the match-winning goal.