Manchester City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur: 5 Talking Points | Premier League 2019-20

Manchester City hosted Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium as the match lived up to all its hype with VAR yet again denying the hosts a decider as the scoreline read 2-2 at the end of the final whistle.

Tottenham finished the game with an unlikely point as VAR ruled out Gabriel Jesus' late goal after Manchester City started on the front foot as always, with the same lineup that won at West Ham, barring the presence of Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan.

Tottenham Hotspur were handed an early blow by the Kevin de Bruyne-Raheem Sterling combination as a cross from de Bruyne was met by a fantastic header from the Englishman.

Against the run of play, however, a direct pass from Tanguy Ndombele to Erik Lamela opened up the opportunity for Spurs to equalize. Lamela fired a shot from distance as Ederson, who was out of position, was beaten.

City restored their lead again through Kevin de Bruyne's involvement, as this time it was Sergio Aguero who was the target in the middle who slotted in a low cross to the back of the net.

Despite creating numerous opportunities towards the start of the second half, City lost their lead again, this time through the first touch from Lucas Moura, who won a header that went past Ederson's dive towards the right corner.

Gabriel Jesus scored a late goal for Manchester City which seemingly secured all three points for the Blues from Manchester, but their Achilles heel, VAR, returned to haunt them and cancel out their goal which was ruled out by a possible handball by Aymeric Laporte in the sequence before the potential winner was scored.

Here are five talking points from the game.

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#5 Tottenham survive the City juggernaut, only barely

Raheem Sterling ran riot in the left-wing

Tottenham never got it going. The starting lineup seemed strange as there was no pace on the break with Lucas Moura finding himself on the bench. Manchester City made quick incisions through the lines of Tottenham's defense and quickly took a lead.

Erik Lamela's strike to equalise was purely a gift from Ederson to the Spurs. Despite various calls by Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen to play the long ball, the players defending deep in their half were smothered by the overwhelming work-rate of the Cityzens.

The header by Lucas Moura was yet another gift. No player contested Lucas Moura for the header, as he put it past Ederson, who himself could've done better to stop the ball from crashing into the net.

The plan from Pochettino was surely to absorb the pressure, which they didn't succeed in doing, and this is was an unlikely point handed to them by City's own mistakes.

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#4 Lloris steps up despite being flawed, Ederson falters

Hugo Lloris managed to keep his team in the game until they bagged an equalizer

Hugo Lloris made his 300th appearance for Tottenham Hotspur and produced a couple of heart in the mouth moments but equally brilliant saves in the second half. Lloris had several flaws in his game with the ball at his feet when he nearly passed to Bernardo Silva, apart from when Kevin de Bruyne pressed him into nearly losing the ball.

In the second half though, Lloris put up a good show. He made a series of top saves, notably a slightly deflected shot off Oleksandr Zinchenko, a curved missile by Rodri, and a close one on one against Bernardo Silva.

Ederson, on the other hand, was possibly the opposite of Lloris. Calm and collective with the ball at his feet, he however faltered with his positioning. He failed to cover his right post and possibly invited the shot from Lamela. With that kind of space to aim at and not much pressure, Lamela easily found the gap and scored.

Moura's header was won against all odds, but even that, although not easy to save, was within Ederson's reach to tip over the bar. Had Ederson produced a single moment of excellence, City would have walked away with all three points.

#3 Does Lucas Moura deserve a start?

Lucas Moura scored an unlikely equalizing goal for Tottenham

Harry Kane had under 10 touches in the opposition half in the whole first half and when compared to Sebastien Haller last weekend, he offered practically nothing. His movements did not cause any concerns for Aymeric Laporte and he was not lively as a striker should be when looking to hit on the break.

Kane was shut-down, quarantined to a certain limit by the City defense. He failed to win any of the four aerial duels and including ground duels, he won only two out of eight. Kane had 23 touches and only 10 accurate passes in the whole game.

Lucas Moura was introduced as a substitute and scored a goal by winning the header against Kyle Walker. He successfully completed all of his attempted dribbles and won six out of nine duels, three of which were aerial. The stats themselves signify that Moura was much more lively than Kane on the pitch.

Looking at heat maps, while Kane's map showed a big spot of orange just ahead of the mid-line, Moura's heat map had a very small orange spot and the rest was a yellow spread near the midline.

In his 34-minute cameo, Moura certainly did better than Kane, and this should be in Pochettino's mind. He doesn't necessarily need to bench Kane even if he wants to introduce Moura, but the Brazilian could certainly add an extra dimension to the team structure.

#2 Rodri blending into the City team effortlessly

Rodri delivered another exceptional performance for Pep's team

Rodri Hernandez was a big talking point in the summer transfer window when City acquired him from Atletico Madrid. His first game was filled with hiccups against Liverpool, before he improved considerably against West Ham, and now it seems as if we are starting to see the Rodri who was tipped to fit like a glove in Pep's defensive midfield position.

Rodri's positioning ahead of his center backs helped him and his team neutralize any threats from Christian Eriksen, who was reasonably quiet on the day. The distribution and press-resistance that was expected from him was on exhibition, perhaps why his good show proved to be vital to resist the pressure from Tottenham's forwards and progress the ball forward.

Rodri's numbers against Tottenham - 55 accurate passes (98%), 6 long balls (85%), 3/3 aerial duel success, 4/6 ground duels won, 70 touches, 4 tackles won (80%), 0 fouls committed was a testament of his fine show on the night.

#1 Kevin de Bruyne is simply unstoppable

Kevin de Bruyne was on fire against Tottenham

When Kevin de Bruyne played against West Ham, he appeared like a man on a mission and against Tottenham, the Belgian kicked into another gear altogether, running the Spurs ragged with his attacking style of play.

de Bruyne was on song right from the first minute against Tottenham, playing sleek football with Bernardo Silva on the right, and using the movements of Sterling on the left. His first assist was a masterstroke, as he passed to Silva and hung back instead of offering support in the wings. On receiving the ball, de Bruyne curled a loopy ball towards the center as Raheem Sterling calmly headed the ball into the net.

The second goal was again created by the Belgian with a run down the right and a perfect delivery into the box, as Sergio Aguero timed his run perfectly and scored. From the game,de Bruyne earned two assists to his name, 39/46 completed passes, and a staggering nine key passes.