JUST 3 POINTS FROM GLORY
After three successive defeats, Pep’s men swat aside Spurs. Now they’re ...
FINALLY, Manchester City look like a team back in control of their destiny. Of course, they had never really lost sight of the prize and their opponents were so far back down the course that no amount of stumbling could prevent them from reaching the finish line victorious.
But for a brief period of just over a week, City have looked tantalisingly vulnerable. Three successive defeats at the most important time of year not only brought a hasty end to talk of their football being the greatest, it also hinted at a superficiality, that their style might have triumphed but their substance had a tendency to wilt under aggressive inquisition.
At Wembley, a stadium and pitch made for Pep Guardiola’s brand of football, they briefly enticed the doubters to summon their Schadenfreude. Yet unlike against Liverpool, unlike against Manchester United, they prevailed. As great teams do.
They now stand at the cusp of achievement. Given their goal difference superiority, a third Premier League title in six years will be as good as theirs when United fail to win a game. Or when they themselves beat Swansea next Sunday, whichever comes sooner.
The last fortnight, though, has added an intriguing plot twist to a drama whose conclusion had looked all too predictable. And it has offered glorious possibilities for next season, hope for opponents.
Against Tottenham, they demonstrated the full gamut of their game. This time the best aspects sustained them. They were scintillating for 30 minutes, they then invited Tottenham back into the game, they looked terribly ill at ease briefly, they recovered, yet just could not finish, then, finally, they did score the goal that ended the contest.
You wanted to eulogise. After all, here was a first half to match the best, or rather to match what they did against United before imploding. Or to surpass what they managed against Liverpool last week, before submitting. It has been hard to know where you are with City.
Suffice to say they did not look like a team in hiding after three successive defeats or one that was spending excessive time tending to psychological wounds. You thought it might be Spurs who would leap on to the front foot and jab at City’s jugular, that they might attempt to spook them and throw them off their stride.
It was quite the reverse. From the off, City seized the initiative and then refused to loosen their grip. Four minutes in, Hugo Lloris was barely moving as the ball ricocheted off his post and spun harmlessly away. It had been a smart one-two between Raheem Sterling and David Silva which had set up Leroy Sane and his shot which had spun on to the post.
City had served notice of intent. Kevin De Bruyne shot wide in the ninth minute, Sane fouled Kieran Trippier in the 14th minute but what was noticeable was how high he was pressing the ball and how much aggression he was showing. Twenty minutes passed, City had 65 per cent of the possession.
The only surprise about the opening goal, given the pattern City were weaving, was its creation in the 22nd minute. Vincent Kompany
simply hit a long ball and Gabriel Jesus outsprinted Davidson Sanchez, took one minimal touch, then finished past Lloris.
Three minutes later there was yet more drama. Lloris came sprinting out to close down Sterling, who was touched the ball past him to Sane. The goalkeeper missed the ball, took the man and was wholly out of control and so merited a red card for the awful challenge that ensued rather than the yellow which came. The foul was committed outside the penalty area but referee Jon Moss gave the spot-kick and Ilkay Gundogan finished it calmly.
Tottenham, who had not lost in the Premier League since their 4-1 defeat at the Etihad in December, looked similarly lost.
Ben Davies was also lucky not to receive a red card for a challenge on Vincent Kompany in the 28th minute, Sanchez saved them with a block from Sane and Silva’s strike then forced a save from Lloris soon after. Tottenham had mustered just the one strike, wide, from Erik Lamela but City tend to give you hope at present. The crowd sensed it. Tottenham willed it.
A De Bruyne foul and the subsequent free-kick saw the ball worked to Dele Alli who played in Harry Kane. He threaded the ball in for Christian Eriksen and, though Aymeric Laporte dived to block the shot, he was unfortunate in that it rebounded back off the Tottenham player, over Ederson and into the net for 2-1.
The late goal was enough to rouse Tottenham. They started the second half as City had started the first.
Eriksen swung in a free-kick in the 48th minute. Ederson came to punch away as Tottenham players lurked to head in. Alli and Kompany tangled in the box in the 52nd minute as the playmaker attempted to dribble his way through to goal.
Davies swung in a cross in the 58th minute and Kane, the target, was unmarked. Tantalising it was a centimetre too far way for him to connect and head home. But the threat was clear. Of course, there was a risk of punishment from a swift counter. It should have come in the 64th minute, Sterling playing Jesus through on goal. Yet it seemed City’s rhythm had been broken again, the Brazilian scuffing his shot wide. Sterling missed his own opportunity two minutes later. It was almost as if they wished to prolong the tension.
In the 70th minute, time had surely come? A Kyle Walker cross was played in, Lloris palmed it was but only to Sterling. He sidestepped the keeper, landed Davies on his backside but still, somehow, with Sterling only six yards out, the full-back managed to lift a foot to deflect the shot wide.
From the ensuing corner though, finally, for the first time in four games, City would find a moment of control. De Bruyne’s set piece was deflected out to Jesus, whose strike was met with a firm hand from Lloris. However, Sterling reacted quicker than anyone and lifted the ball over the goalkeeper to restore a two-goal lead.