Tottenham 0-2 Manchester City: What we learned as Haaland’s double lifts City to the top
A brace of goals from Erling Haaland steered Manchester City to the Premier League summit heading into the final match day of the season as they beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0.
It moved the reigning champions to 88 points, two ahead of Arsenal who have charted a memorable path along the way but are up against a side that will sit top of the PL ladder heading into the last day of the term for the sixth time in the past seven years.
Haaland bagged his first through a delicious slide pass from Kevin de Bruyne, before dispatching a nerveless penalty in the 91st minute. Stefan Ortega was the hero for Manchester City, though, as he produced three magnificent saves – the last of them being a one-on-one against Son Heung-Min.
A stellar save from Guglielmo Vicario headlined an otherwise cagey first half that saw Spurs completely stifle Man City and head into the tunnel as the better side.
City overcooked passes, lost possession to multiple white shirts pouncing on them, and failed to replicate the intensity that saw them win four away games on the trot.
However, having been in several such situations over the years, they played like the champions-elect on both ends of the pitch after the break.
Without further delay, we analyze the major talking points from the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
#1 Postecoglou tactically outdoes Man City in the first half
In a strange run of affairs given what was at stake for both sides, a rather quiet atmosphere witnessed arguably one of the best performances by the home side in many months.
“I understand rivalry. I was part of one of the biggest ones in the world in the last couple of years with Celtic and Rangers,” the Spurs boss noted earlier in his press conference ahead of the match.
“But I’ve never, and will never, understand if someone wants their own team to lose. That’s not what sport is about. It’s not what I love about the game.”
And Ange brought the best out of his coaching manual against Guardiola. With a 4-4-2 or a 4-2-4 off the ball, he took a striker out and forged a narrow setup to uproot City’s threat from the middle of the pitch.
It forced the likes of Phil Foden and Kyle Walker to go wide, where they couldn’t muster the final ball.
Chief orchestrators De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva were mere passengers, as they scuffed their passes against a Spurs side brimming with intensity.
#2 De Bruyne and Bernardo up the ante to supply the opener
After what may have been a stern half-time talk from Guardiola, City looked sharper right from the first kick of the ball in the second 45.
And within six minutes of the restart, Haaland tapped in Man City’s desired goal. It was intricate. It was quick. And on the turnover, Foden charged forward from the left touchline and laid a cross for Haaland. The loose ball ended up with Bernardo, who slid a fine-tuned pass for De Bruyne at the byline, who barely missed his pass from that position.
That was De Bruyne’s 12th assist for Haaland in the league. The pass master was taken off about 15 minutes later, along with Ederson, who endured a collision with Cristian Romero.
Bernardo and Foden continued to impress as the defending champions established more control. They engineered a genuine chance in the Spurs box which then led to a counter. Moments after, Stefan Ortega was forced into an early save, indicating the end-to-end nature of the contest.
A minute later, Jeremy Doku’s dazzling run followed by a curler was denied by the in-form Vicario, but City’s dominance had Spurs fans rejoicing with chants for their neighbors.
#3 Late Ortega heroics deny Spurs before Haaland seals the deal
It was the fourth time Ortega replaced Ederson as a substitute in the Premier League this season, much to the latter’s disgust.
And while Manuel Akanji and Josko Gvardiol formed a brilliant partnership on the left side of the back line, Dejan Kulusevski appeared a thorn in Man City’s title aspirations with his crafty footwork.
He threatened Ortega soon after the goalkeeper came on, before going on to slam a close-range effort straight at him from a narrow angle.
Man City’s second-choice shot-stopper was there in arguably the moment of the match, when Akanji was robbed by Brennan Johnson, playing Son through, eye to eye with Ortega, who came out quickly and made himself big to deny the Tottenham captain with his right foot.
It would have had every Arsenal fan off their sofa before they probably turned off their television sets after Doku’s tricky feet earned City an injury-time penalty.
The move started with Haaland, who cushioned a header to Foden’s path. The Player of the Season nominee then volleyed a wonderful ball to Doku, who won a spot-kick that Haaland slammed into the left top corner.
It means Guardiola’s troops are a home win versus West Ham shy of an unprecedented fourth successive league title, while Unai Emery’s Aston Villa sealed a Champions League spot.
Meanwhile, Tottenham will have to settle for a Europa League spot. But oddly, their fans won’t be complaining one bit tonight.
-Roy Akarshak
Twitter: @RoyAkarshak
Photo: עברית: אנג’ה פוסטקוגלו בזמן סבב גביע אסיה 2015 בכיכר הפדרציה, מלבורן. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.