Tottenham Shocks Manchester City

Posted on September 27, 2015 by Sreya

Tottenham Hotspur shocked Manchester City earlier today when the North London club defeated the favourites for the English Premier League title 4-1, mounting one of the most impressive comebacks of recent years in English football. The uncertainty of the 2015/16 season in the top flight of English football came to forefront once again with this particular result.

Manchester City’s impressive start to the campaign with five consecutive victories seems like a distant memory now. Manuel Pellegrini’s side struggled spectacularly in defending and keeping hold of the ball, allowing Harry Kane and his team-mates to run riot in front of Willy Caballero’s goal.

Manchester City had won eight of their previous nine matches against Spurs and spent the opening minutes of the match enjoying their domination. Loss of possession from Kyle Walker at the 25-minute mark allowed Yaya Toure to make a trademark run and Kevin de Bruyne finished a nice attacking move, albeit from a slight offside position. City looked confident and well in path towards their sixth consecutive away win.

However, Tottenham equalized moments before the half-time, as Eric Dier latched onto a weak pass from de Bruyne and scored a stunning effort from the long-range. Willy Caballero had saved Tottenham’s initial attempt, but failed to keep Dier’s shot out, having positioned himself rather precariously. Manchester City had reasons to complain though, with the assistant referee failing to flag the clearly-offside Kyle Walker.

Four minutes into the second half, Tottenham took the lead through Toby Alderweireld after the Belgian got on to the end of a ball from Erik Lamela and headed it past a hapless Caballero. The lack of defensive cohesion among Otamendi and Demichelis, and the inexperience of Caballero was aptly reflected in this goal.

Harry Kane scored the third goal, again from an offside position, rounding off a forgettable night for the officials. Christian Eriksen’s shot had come off the crossbar and Kane was the quickest to the loose ball. Erik Lamela added onto the humiliation with a fourth goal and Manuel Pellegrini looked forlorn in the dugout, as Manchester City seemed bereft of ideas.

Injuries have put a dent on City’s fortunes with the expensively-assembled squad struggling to cope with the absence of Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Joe Hart and Sergio Aguero. Hart and Aguero should feature in the starting lineup against Borussia Monchengladbach on Wednesday, but Manuel Pellegrini must ensure his side stems the rot soon and get back to their winning ways.