Man City 3 Tottenham 3
Ange Postecoglou’s side had suffered three defeats in a row before making the trip to the Etihad Stadium looking to stop the rot against Pep Guardiola’s side. The one positive they had to take into this game was their record in this fixture in Manchester.
Man City started on the front foot with Doku forcing a save from Vicario, leading to an early corner. Tottenham cleared the ball and countered with Kulusevski feeding Son, beating his man and slotting the ball past Ederson to silence the home fans.
Questions could be asked of the City keeper as the shot went straight through him, Guardiola expects far better from the Brazilian. It was against the run of play and the Spaniard will not be happy that Spurs scored from a Man City corner.
The hosts continued to put the pressure on the visitors and as Alvarez curled a free kick into the box, Haaland flicked it on and it was in fact Son who put the ball into his own net. The Tottenham captain went from hero to zero for the North London outfit in the space of two minutes.
Credit: @ManCity
As the defending champions continued to turn the screw, Bernado Silva found Erling Haaland and incredibly the Norwegian pulled his shot wide when he had an open goal to aim for. Just in case you thought he was not human, Haaland was showing that even a machine can falter.
Doku was causing all sorts of problems down the left and as he squared Ben Davies up, he cut onto his right foot and let fly with the ball hitting the underside of the crossbar and then the post. You cannot get much closer to scoring without seeing the net bulge.
Some great football from Guardiola’s side saw Doku thread it to Silva who spun and found Foden in front of goal. He made no mistake and slotted the ball past Vicario to give the hosts the lead once again and it was no more than they deserved from their pressure.
As the first half continued, Postecoglou’s side were well and truly under the cosh and as Alvarez shot from just inside the box, he beat the Tottenham keeper, only to see his effort come back off the base of the post. So close to number three.
Spurs started the second half in the worst possible way as they tried to play out from the back. Vicario passed it straight to Alvarez, who found Haaland, laying it off to Silva on the edge of the box. His shot seemed to be heading in the top corner until Vicario made amends for his error with a fine one-handed save.
Doku seemed to have picked up an injury and was replaced by Grealish. It seemed only a matter of time before City added more goals but lately they have paid the price for not putting teams away when they are dominating games.
Credit: @SpursOfficial
On a rare attack into Man City territory, Son found Lo Celso, who cut inside onto his left foot and drilled the ball past Ederson from outside the box to draw the visitors level. It stunned the home faithful as the away end erupted.
City continued to create chances and Rodri fired over from close range to add to the list of missed opportunities. It all paled into insignificance as Haaland cut the ball back from the byline for Grealish to slot the ball home and put the hosts ahead once again.
Tottenham were the architects of their own downfall on this occasion as Bissouma turned into trouble rather than playing a simple pass and as he was dispossessed, Man City made the visitors pay the ultimate price.
It seemed the goal was enough to win the game with Spurs struggling to get down the right end of the field to find an equaliser. They managed to play through the press and fed the ball out wide to Johnson with time fast running out.
He dropped the shoulder, giving him a yard of space, and clipped a ball into the danger area. Kulusevski ran onto it, out-jumping Ake, with his header clipping the underside of the bar and going in for a 90th minute equaliser.
You could hear a pin drop in the stadium as the away end went crazy. City had paid the price once again for failing to take their chances. Pep Guardiola fell to the floor in disbelief as they were dealt the ultimate sucker punch.
Then came a pivotal moment of the match for both sides. Son broke for Tottenham and played it out wide to Kulusevski. His cross found Johnson perfectly in the box. He had two teammates to lay it back to on the edge of the box but his pass dissected the pair.
Man City picked the loose ball up and played it Haaland who was coming deep looking for the ball. He was fouled but got straight to his feet, turned and threaded a perfect ball to Grealish, setting him clean through on goal.
Simon Hooper then blew his whistle for the foul on Haaland. It sent the Man City players over the edge as they crowded around the official demanding to know why he didn’t play the advantage. We have seen some poor decisions this season, this was just another to add to the collection.
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