Pep Guardiola will have to wait yet another season to grab his first win at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium, as his Manchester City side were defeated 1-0 by a well-disciplined Spurs side.
Here’s how the players ranked:
Manager rating- 7
Cristian Stellini stepped in for Antonio Conte as manager today, with Conte currently recovering from surgery back in Italy. The choice to persist with Emerson at wing-back yet again paid off with the Brazilian continuing his fine run of form.
Hugo Lloris- 7
The Frenchman rarely got called into action until the last 10 mins of the game, collecting a few crosses late on, to ease the pressure on the Spurs back line
Emerson Royal- 8
A number of Spurs fans (including myself) were left rattled by the fact the Brazilian started ahead of new signing Pedro Porro. However, Emerson yet again proved his doubters wrong. Strong defensively aswell as adding some creativity down the right hand side, Emerson was my MOTM today.
Cristian Romero- 7
In typical Romero fashion his performance was very eventful. He was booked early on, after a late challenge on Haaland and his battle with the City striker was one of the highlights of the game for me. He was however disappointedly sent off in the last ten minutes after receiving a second booking for a foul foul on Grealish.
Eric Dier- 7
Clearances and blocks galore, today was a vintage Eric Dier performance. He cleverly stepped out of the backline numerous times to deal with the threat of Alvarez and Silva, to great affect.
Ben Davies- 7
Today’s performance was yet another reason why Davies should start over Lenglet. Defensively solid aswell as adding some intensity, Davies teamed up well with Perisic on the left hand side, to keep Mahrez quiet.
Ivan Perisic- 6
After massively struggling against Mahrez in the reverse fixture, Perisic was much more defensively sound today. He was however sloppy on the ball numerous times, shown late in the first half with his stray pass eventually leading to Mahrez hitting the crossbar.
Rodrigo Bentancur- 7
Was unlucky to get booked early on but his solid partnership with Hojbjerg prevented City creating anything through midfield, which was a key factor in the win.
Pierre-Emile Hobjerg- 8
The Dane’s relentless pressing lead to Tottenham’s opener, stealing the ball from Lewis and setting up Kane for his record breaking goal. The midfielder carried that into the second half, constantly breaking down City attacks aswell as contributing in the final third.
Dejan Kulusevski- 6
The Swede got a lot of joy down the right hand side today, however he couldn’t provide the killer pass needed. He also carried on his recent trend of being pretty sloppy on the ball, losing possession carelessly a few times.
Heung-Min Son- 7
Despite not getting on the scoresheet Son was yet again much better today. Tireless running matched with confidence on the ball, todays performance may be another incline that Son may be getting back to his best.
Harry Kane- 8
Record breaker! Kane was once again City’s downfall today as calmly slotted home from close range early in the first half, after being set up from Hojbjerg. Kane’s hold play was also fantastic, getting the better of Akanji and Ake numerous times. A close contender for MOTM alongside Hojbjerg and Emerson Royal.
Subs:
Ryan Sessegnon- 5
Yves Bissouma- 5
Davinson Sanchez- 5
Spurs played much better football without Conte’s histrionics on the touchline.