Win puts pep in Mourinho’s step
Tottenham go top of the table after counter-attacking victory over City
With his team top of the English Premier League, Jose Mourinho enjoyed bragging rights over Pep Guardiola yesterday in their longstanding rivalry as Tottenham beat Manchester City 2-0.
A typical Guardiola v Mourinho game saw City enjoy the lion’s share of possession, only to be frustrated by Tottenham’s compact defence and sliced apart on counter-attacks.
Mourinho was marking a year in charge at Tottenham, while Guardiola acknowledged he had work to do to turn City’s season around after recently signing a two-year contract extension.
Son Heung-min gave Tottenham the lead in the fifth minute when Harry Kane pulled both City centre backs out of position, leaving the way clear for the South Korean to latch on to Tanguy Ndombele’s pass and score. With a one-goal advantage, Tottenham were happy to sit back and deflect City’s attacks.
Aymeric Laporte briefly thought he had ended that run but his goal was disallowed because Gabriel Jesus controlled the ball with his arm before passing to Laporte.
As City pushed up and left space for Tottenham to counter, Kane had three passing options on a 65thminute break and opted for Giovani Lo Celso, who scored with his first action after coming on as a substitute.
Tottenham have 20 points, two more than Chelsea and Leicester. A win at Liverpool overnight would put Leicester top, though.
“I prefer to be top of the league than second, third or fourth but it is not an obsession,” Mourinho said. “It is not a problem for me if Leicester win and go top. I just wanted to win my next game.”
Chelsea ended the day second, above Leicester on goal difference, after Timo Werner lifted the team to a 2-0 win at Newcastle.
The Germany forward brought the ball out of his own half on a lightning solo counter-attack before laying it off to Tammy Abraham to score the winning goal. It was Abraham’s third goal in his last three games for Chelsea, who host Spurs next weekend.
Chelsea had earlier taken the lead when Newcastle defender Federico Fernandez knocked Mason Mount’s cross into his own net. Scoring at the correct end of the field was much tougher for Newcastle, whose first shot on goal didn’t come until a deflected shot in the 82nd minute.
After their high-flying start to the season, Aston Villa look increasingly earthbound. Solly March’s goal from the edge of the box gave Brighton a 2-1 win at Villa, but it could have finished differently after a contentious stoppage-time incident.
March reached for the ball and caught Mahmoud “Trezeguet” Hassan and the referee gave a penalty, only to reverse his decision after watching the incident again. Video review indicated March played the ball.
Villa have lost three of their last four league games, while Brighton claimed their first win since September 20 and now have a sixpoint cushion to the relegation zone.
Video replay was also in action as Bruno Fernandes scored the only goal of the game as Manchester United beat West Bromwich Albion 1-0 at Old Trafford.
First, a video replay overturned a penalty given against United by showing Fernandes got the ball when challenging an opponent. Then it gave Fernandes two chances at a spot kick when he stepped up to take the penalty after West Brom’s Darnell Furlong handled the ball.
The Portugal midfielder’s first attempt was saved by West Brom goalkeeper Sam Johnstone, but VAR showed that Johnstone was slightly off his line. That meant a retake and Fernandes duly scored.
United moved up to ninth and are seven points off Tottenham.