Tottenham deliver perfect response to humiliating transfer snub to down Man City

The joke might have been on Tottenham losing out on Eberechi Eze - but they ended the week having the last laugh with another demolition of Manchester City on their own turf.

Ridiculed in their North London manor as Arsenal hijacked their move for Eze, Tottenham conjured the finest possible response with a superb team display oozing authority and confidence to sink Pep Guardiola’s City once more. First half goals by Brennan Johnson and Joao Palhinha, on loan from Bayern Munich, left Guardiola with more than a few early season headaches as his City stars were simply downed by a muscular Spurs display.

And as home fans headed for the exits well before the final whistle, Spurs fans cheekily sang “It’s happened again, Manchester City it’s happened again” in reference to their 4-0 Etihad League win last November.

Tottenham have had City’s number for some time - but this was a classy win that showcased Frank’s full range of tactical cleverness.

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Not many outwit Guardiola. But Frank got his gameplan spot on squeezing the space and allowing City stars little time to work their usual magic as they slipped to a first defeat in 10 league games.

Frank had stars all over the pitch full of hunger and ambition to accelerate an impressive start to the season. And in central defence Christian Romero and Micky van de Ven were a tower of strength restricting Erling Haaland to a bit-part on a day to forget for Guardiola.

For the first half hour, though, it was City who looked a threat with Omar Marmoush a live-wire causing constant problems for the Spurs defence. After a long kick by Trafford deep into Spurs defensive territory a poor touch by Pedro Porro allowed Marmoush to steal in but his tight angled shot rolled across the face of goal.

Soon after the Egyptian striker saw a fierce shot beaten away by Vicario and with 28 minutes gone the £59 million January signing from Eintracht Frankfurt had his best chance. Haaland picked up the ball just inside the Spurs half and sped through the gears before releasing a superb pass for Marmoush but again Vicario saved with the City bench wondering if the striker could have tried to go round the keeper.

Just before that, City had lost new signing Rayan Ait-Nouri after an early injury attempting to block a shot with Ake replacing the former Wolves star at left back.

Despite early City chances Spurs had looked compact and well organised with Frank encouraging his stars to stick to the plan. To his delight they did more, scoring twice before the half time to give Tottenham fans more belief that they can kick-on significantly with the arrival of Frank.

The first goal came from a lightning Spurs move started by Porro who found Sarr with a high ball from the back. Sarr flicked the ball on for Richarlison to race clear of the City defence before squaring the ball to Johnson charging into the box. Johnson, Tottenham’s Europa League Final hero in Bilbao, met the ball perfectly to thump his shot past Trafford and send the Spurs bench and their travelling fans into raptures.

Initially referee Peter Bankes ruled the goal out with his assistant raising an offside flag against Richarlison. But a VAR review showed the Brazilian striker was onside and Spurs celebrations went into full swing.

For a few minutes City were stunned and when Porro went down under a Tijjanii Reijnders challenge on the edge of the box it left Tottenham screaming for a penalty. But Bankes was unmoved and waved away protests as City desperately tried to steady the ship.

With Guardiola preparing his interval messages, City shot themselves in the foot with Spurs making it 2-0 ,90 seconds into seven minutes of added time. Instead of going long Trafford put his side in trouble with a crazy short ball out to Rijnders. In the mayhem that followed as Spurs sprung a rapid press, Palhinha fired the loose ball into City’s net to leave Guardiola shell-shocked.

Would Tottenham be Spursy and lose the lead second half? The answer was emphatically no and substitutes Odobert and Solanke could have added to City’s misery with more care over late chances.

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