Advantage Spurs In This Year’s Battle Of Britain

Johnny On The Spot:#JUGGERNAUT-STALLED. An absorbing, compelling Champions League blockbuster has finished with Manchester City tasting defeat for the first time in over 2 months…

Spurs, aiming for their first trophy since 2008 came into this game with 2 wins from their last 7 matches in Europe and the Premier League where they lie fully 16 points behind The Blues.

Against the spectacular backdrop of their sparkling new home, Spurs played with one up front and a narrow midfield 3 evidently looking to hit City on the counter but the complete absence of new stadium jitters, quite the opposite in fact, saw Mauricio Pocchetino’s men eager to lay blows upon the English champions backline.

That said, Tottenham and a thrilled support were further galvanised when Kun Aguero missed a glorious opportunity on 12 minutes after a VAR penalty was awarded to The Blues. Returning from injury, our talisman could only muster a weak effort that made the job of saving it far too easy for the utterly unpredictable Lloris.

As the game developed with Spurs looking the likelier, I City were operating under instruction, intent to contain and snatch a win. Some of the passing was zippy from both sides but glaringly, City repeatedly conceded cheap free kicks around their penalty area, Nicolas Otamendi being the culprit in chief.

Spurs suffered a body blow just before the hour mark when Harry Kane launched himself unfairly at Fabian Delph and knacked himself, heading straight down the tunnel. In the minutes that followed, City began to move into a game management mode.

Pep did not make a change until the 70th minute, hooking the off-key Aguero for Gabriel Jesus. Without a doubt, the City boss is being cautious in his mid-game squad rotations with plenty of massive matches remaining in an epic campaign, Bernardo in training yesterday the latest key player to head for the sick bay with a muscle tweak. Danilo, Stones, Mendy, Aguero, Zinchenko, Fernandinho and De Bruyne have all been in and out of the side with differing degrees of difficulty which makes City’s progress all the more remarkable. Without a doubt a strong element of caution has entered into the team’s mindset as the games mount up.

The Blues had begun to assume the ascendancy into the last quarter hour but against the run of play, Fabian Delph lost his man and Son finished with aplomb.

Pep reacted 10 minutes after the goal with the double-sub introduction of Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sané in the penultimate minute of the fixture. City’s play took on a wholly new dimension as the deadly duo began to take the game to the home side, but it wasn’t enough.

I thought overall City lacked some composure tonight in the face of Spurs’ excitement in their fantastic new surroundings which appears to have energised their season. Next week’s Etihad double header will be intriguing and we can expect fireworks!

JB’s Man of The Match: Ilkay Gündogan. Stuck to his task tidily throughout but was unable to tip the balance.

Tottenham Hotspur				Manchester City
Son Heung-Min (78')
1 Hugo Lloris				31 Ederson
2 Kieran Trippier				2 Kyle Walker
4 Toby Alderweireld				30 Nicolas Otamendi
5 Jan Vertonghen				14 Aymeric Laporte
3 Danny Rose				18 Fabian Delph
8 Harry Winks			Wanyama 81'	8 Ilkay Gündogan
23 Christian Eriksen				25 Fernandinho
17 Moussa Sissoko				21 David Silva			De Bruyne 89'
20 Dele Alli			Llorente 87'	26 Riyad Mahrez			Sané 89'
10 Harry Kane			Lucas Moura 58'	10 Sergio Agüero			Gabriel Jesus 71'
7 Son Heung-Min				7 Raheem Sterling
Substitutes
6 Davison Sánchez				4 Vincent Kompany
12 Victor Wanyama				5 John Stones
18 Fernando Llorente				17 Kevin De Bruyne
21 Juan Foyth				19 Leroy Sané
22 Paulo Gazzaniga				33 Gabriel Jesus
27 Lucas Moura				47 Philip Foden
33 Ben Davies				49 Aro Muric

Game Statistics
13	Goal attempts	10
4	On Target	2
3	Corners	3
8	Fouls	11
1	Yellow Cards	2
0	Red Cards	0
41	%	59