Image Credit: Evening Standard
By Lee Clow 02 February 2020 | Premier League
Steven Bergwijn scored on his debut as he helped Tottenham claim victory over Manchester City at the Tottenahm Hotspur Stadium.
Going into the game, Jose Mourinho decided to give new signing Steven Bergwijn his first start in the Premier League for Spurs since joining from PSV.
Manchester City started brightly and could have scored multiple times within the first 10 minutes. Kevin De Bruyne was played in by Riyad Mahrez but fired wide and Sergio Aguero saw his shot blocked when picked out in the box by former Spurs man Kyle Walker.
Moments later, Tottenham had a chance for themselves when a wayward back pass almost allowed Lucas Moura in. The Brazilian used his pace to pressure and almost snatched the ball away from Ederson, who had a mix up with Fernandinho.
Much of the first half was end to end with Bergwijn looking bright for Spurs and De Bruyne pulling the strings for City.
City had a huge chance to score when Aguero was played in. Manchester City’s leading scorer skipped through the Spurs defence and unleashed a strike towards goal, but the post was there to deny the visitors and breathe a sigh of relief amongst the home fans.
In the 38th minute, Manchester City were awarded a penalty by VAR following a challenge by Serge Aurier that occurred a few minutes beforehand. İlkay Gundogan stepped up from the spot, and as he did last season in the Champions League quarter final, Hugo Lloris saved the spot kick keeping the scores level.
More drama occurred afterwards as Lloris appeared to trip Raheem Sterling following his penalty save. The Manchester City players screamed for another penalty, but VAR deemed the challenge as not a penalty with the French captain pulling away his hands away at the right moment.
The Spurs fans raised their voices following their teams’ luck as it set up a frantic end of the half.
Aguero missed a huge chance to score right at the end of the half when he was picked out by Sterling. The Argentine striker clearly had a gap in Lloris’ goal to fire home but he failed and placed the ball wide letting Spurs off the hook again.
The teams went into the break level, but Spurs were certainly lucky not be behind with City deserved of a lead.
In the second half, City again came out flying and almost scored the opener. A mix up between Lloris and Davinson Sanchez allowed Aguero to shoot towards goal but Toby Alderweireld was back on his line to keep out the first strike. Alderweireld’s clearance fell to Sterling who flashed it to Gundogan, who looked certain to score, but the German could not fire home with the goal gaping.
On the hour mark, Oleksander Zinchenko was sent off after receiving a second yellow card for tripping up Harry Winks on the break.
Following the red card, Spurs capitalised and scored the opening goal of the game through debutant Bergwijn. Moura beautifully clipped a ball towards Bergwijn who controlled and unleashed a strike, first time, into the bottom of the net to send the home side into raptures.
Moments later, Tottenham found a second as Heung-Min Son fired home past Ederson. Substitute Ndombele excellently slipped in Son who found space and squeezed a strike, via a deflection, into the back of the net to give Spurs a two-goal cushion against the defending champions.
City looked to reduce the deficit late in the game but the fact they were a man down took a huge toll on them with many of the players tiring. Hugo Lloris made two outstanding pieces of goalkeeping to preserve his sides’ clean sheet.
Sanchez saw his header smack his own cross bar in the final seconds as Tottenham held onto their clean sheet, summing up Manchester City’s day in front of goal.
The victory for Spurs lifts them up to fifth in the table, four point of Chelsea who sit in fourth. The defeat for City almost guarantees Liverpool’s title victory with the Merseyside club 22 points ahead of last year’s champions.
Spurs boss Jose Mourinho spoke after the game giving his thoughts on the frantic game: "We can look at the perspective of being a bit lucky with a couple of situations where they hit the post or missed a good chance, but we can also see we were very unlucky the VAR didn't decide Sterling should have had a red card, which is clear. I see other situations where the decision like Sterling's is a red card is. Son's against Chelsea, and for me it's a straight red.”
"From that moment it's a different game playing 75 minutes or something like that against 10 men. 11 vs 11 is really difficult and hard, but my boys were very well-organised, with great discipline, we know how we can score goals, how we cannot score goals, and we were waiting or our chances.”
Speaking on the penalty save, Mourinho said: "I think it was God's will that Lloris saved the penalty. It was not a penalty, but he is fantastic and is there to try to give us points.”
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola also spoke after the game: "We played well but lost the game. It happened again. They had two shots and scored two goals.”
"I don't have too many things to say about the performance. We have to accept it and analyse it. It is not easy. We did really well, honestly.”
"With this performance, how should I be critical? This performance would be an incredible mistake to say how bad they are. We created chances and conceded few.”
"A few times this season it has happened. The sending off was a key point. We said at half-time be careful, yellow cards are a fast and quick action."
What’s next?
Tottenham face Southampton in their FA Cup replay tie on Wednesday before visiting Aston Villa on Sunday. Manchester City face West Ham at home next Sunday.
Comments