TOTTENHAM 0, MANCHESTER CITY 1
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola will have been annoyed by his team’s profligacy on a poor quality Wembley pitch but they managed to leave London with three points courtesy of a first half goal by Riyad Mahrez.
Mahrez, David Silva, and Raheem Sterling missed great chances to put them game beyond Spurs who could have levelled the scores through Harry Kane and Moussa Sissoko, and Erik Lamela, and had a late surge after Dele Alli came on but didn’t overly threaten City who returned to the top of the league on goal difference from Liverpool.
Played at a barely half full Wembley Stadium showing obvious signs of damage from the NFL game played there 24 hours earlier between the Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles. It was the third NFL game there in as many weeks and the American Football markings were still visible.
Guardiola made three changes from the side that played away to Shakhtar Donetsk in midweek with Nicolas Otamendi, Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus stepped down to the bench while Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva and Kyle Walker returned to the starting line-up.
It’s possible that De Bruyne wasn’t going to be risked on the agricultural pitch which would have been bettered by some non league surfaces at a Wembley which was nowhere near full with just 56,854 present – another side effect of the late move of the fixture.
Raheem Sterling, on his 200th Premier League game, became the fifth youngest player to reach that milestone and promptly got on the end of a big punt upfield by Ederson, beating Kieran Trippier easily before his cut back found Riyad Mahrez after just six minutes.
The Algerian swept the ball into an empty net and he acknowledged the heavens in tribute to the sad news about Leicester City owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha – his former chairman at Leicester City – who was confirmed to have died in a helicopter accident after a game at the King Power Stadium on Saturday.
Aguero could have doubled the lead shortly afterwards but shot wide while Harry Kane wasn’t far away from scoring from 30 yards out with Ederson off his line after Sterling lost the ball soon afterwards.
City were all over Spurs but the home side could not be counted out – with Fernandinho bailing out Benjamin Mendy’s mistake with a tackle to bring down Erik Lamela after Moussa Sissoko drove into the City area but instead tried to pass the ball when he should have had a go himself.
Mahrez forced a save out of Hugo Lloris after a well worked routine between David Silva and Bernardo Silva as City pressed for a second goal.
Spurs waste chances to equalise against Man City on poor Wembley pitch
Spurs finally had a chance to equalise but a poor first touch by Kane denied him a chance to shoot and Ederson raced off his line to successfully challenge him for the ball after a mistake by Laporte.
Eric Dier had to bring down Aguero on the edge of the area after a poor clearance by Lloris as City continued the pressure into the second half.
And Sterling had a tentative shot blocked on the line from three yards out after Bernardo Silva found David Silva in front of goal but the Spaniard couldn’t dig the ball out after miscontrolling it and had to pass the ball on to Sterling who was denied.
Lloris saved from Aguero after David Silva had put him through and the Argentine striker was withdrawn again for Kevin De Bruyne as City looked to pack the midfield with Silva pushed further forward.
The slender margins were making the game tight. Mahrez lost possession and Spurs substitute Dele Alli drove forward and supplied Lamela with a great chance to level the game but blazed over from 10 yards out – a product of the bobbly pitch – as the tension mounted.
Christian Eriksen was brought on for Lucas Moura as Spurs had to push in the last 10 minutes.
Vincent Kompany replaced David Silva and Gabriel Jesus came on for Mahrez in the dying minutes as City ran the clock down and Spurs couldn’t find the quality to test Ederson – who has now kept six clean sheets in a row in the League.