Spectacular Steven Bergwijn debut sees Spurs shoot down Manchester City
Tottenham Hotspur 2 Manchester City 0
Steven Bergwijn made a spectacular Spurs debut and celebrated with the opening goal to start his new side’s victory over ten man Manchester City at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium on Sunday.
Heung-Min Son struck Spurs second as a rampant home side put City under second half pressure. Pep Guardiola’s side’s afternoon was made all the more painful when Oleksandr Zinchenko was shown a second yellow card for his efforts when trying to unfairly thwart Harry Winks from breaking out.
Spurs were earlier buoyed when Hugo Lorris saved an Ilkay Gundogan penalty in the first half, awarded controversially via VAR, four minutes after Serge Aurier upended Sergio Aguero.
Lloris appeared to move off his line as Gundogan ran up to take the spot kick, and saved well to his left. Follow up tussles involving Raheem Sterling and Zinchenko sparked angry exchanges involving most of the outfield players, and another VAR check to see if Lloris had fouled Sterling.
Dream debut. Bergwijn(R) celebrates his first Spurs strike
Following Bergwijn’s £26.7m move from PSV Eindhoven last week, Jose Mourinho will have been happy with the addition to his squad, but the absence of injured trio Harry Kane, Moussa Sissoko and Ben Davies was still not ideal.
But how Spurs would fare without Kane out injured again was given a thumping 63rd minute answer when Bergwijn chested down and then volleyed in from 18 yards out from Lucas Moura’s cross to beat Ederson for the opener. It was Spurs’ first shot on City’s goal.
Eight minutes later and Spurs doubled their advantage. Son’s shot caught Fernandinho and flew past Ederson to make it 2-0, leaving City to rue a succession of first half chances including Aguero seeing his effort tipped onto the post by Lloris.
The visitors cut through the Spurs lines, with the early play of Riyad Mahrez, Kevin De Bruyne and Aguero suggesting that City would add to their sequence of not having lost in their last six Premier League games against Spurs (D2, L4). Spurs last victory came at White Hart Lane in October 2016.
Son doubled Spurs lead over ten man City
Son, Giovani Lo Celso and Lucas Moura looked sharp in a congested midfield, while Dele Alli clearly hadn’t recovered from Sterling’s studs up challenge in the 12th minute.
Replays suggested the City striker was fortunate to remain on the pitch, while Alli, despite battling on and continuing into the second half, had to be replaced in the 70th minute by Tanguy Ndombele. Mourinho chose to replace the tiring Bergwijn at the same time to a standing ovation for the Netherlands winger. Eric Lamela was introduced and that galvanised the home side to continue their onslaught on Ederson’s goal.
How? City have now failed to score in consecutive games under Guardiola
Despite being a man light, and two goals in arrears, City continued to attack. Former Spurs favourite Kyle Walker continuously surged from right back as his once adoring fans know only too well and tried to bring City back into the game. From one of his lung busting runs from deep City should have scored, but Gundogan struck high and over Lloris’s bar following good work from Sterling and Aguero.
Late efforts from substitutes Gabriel Jesus and Bernardo Silva went begging, while Lloris was alert to tip over De Bruyne’s goal bound curling shot.
The result means that City have now failed to score for consecutive games for the first time under Guardiola and a sixth defeat for the Premier League champions. They remain a massive 22 points behind leaders Liverpool. Spurs are now up to fifth place, four points behind Chelsea.
