It was an excellent performance from Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening. On the back of a 2-1 defeat and a poor display against Ipswich Town, Tottenham needed a reaction and it was one we certainly got. It was a performance that leaves you wondering how on earth did we lose to Ipswich or Crystal Palace. If we had shown the same desire against the lesser opponents we would surely have won those matches and be sitting 2nd in the league. We have moved up to 6th however after the victory on Saturday.
Man City started the stronger of the 2 sides and dominated the first 10-15 minutes and almost scored a few times through Erling Haaland – one of his shots needed blocking by Ben Davies, who was one of those warriors in Lilywhite who rose to the occasion in the absence of Micky Van De Ven and Cristian Romero. A hopeful Radu Dragusin long ball was kept in by the determined Dejan Kulusevski and, at the expense of Josko Gvardiol and Manchester City, Kulusevski’s cross was perfect for James Maddison to shin home on his 28th birthday. It was Gvardiol at fault again for Tottenham’s second as his attempted cross field pass fell kindly for Maddison, and after some clever play between Maddison and Heung-Min Son, Maddison dinked in our second over the onrushing Ederson.
Any chances Man City did have Guglielmo Vicario was equal too. It was a fabulous performance from the Italian shot-stopper, who we later learnt played 60 minutes with a broken ankle and will now unfortunately be out for a period of time after requiring surgery. We need to pray that Fraser Forster will do a competent job as I doubt we will dip into the free agent market to find extra cover.
The second half brought further Spurs dominance and further Spurs goals. Dejan Kulusevski shining again as the Swede and Son linked up nicely, before the former played a crossed ball for Dominic Solanke who played it to Pedro Porro in space for a first-time finish. Out came a unique celebration in the form of Mario Kart, where Maddison, Porro and Solanke sat on the ground and pretended to drive. It was fitting that this goal put Tottenham well and truly in the driving seat and City were unlikely to find any way back from that.
Brennan Johnson added to the lead in stoppage time, after Timo Werner burned Kyle Walker for pace and played the perfect cross for the in-form Welsh winger to tap in. It was the cherry on top of a perfect performance from Tottenham, and as Dejan Kulusevski said post-match we need to continue playing like this, with a positive mentality or else “we’re just stupid”.