Premier League 2018/19: 3 reasons why Tottenham Hotspur lost to Manchester City

#2 City were able to stifle Tottenham

City's midfield - including Ilkay Gundogan - kept Tottenham at bay by dominating possession

While City didn’t carve out too many chances after Foden’s opening goal – Tottenham’s defenders did a tremendous job to be fair, with Davinson Sanchez in particular having an impressive game – what they were able to do was largely stifle Spurs and prevent them from creating too many chances.

Sure, Mauricio Pochettino’s side did have some clear attempts on goal, but those largely came from defensive lapses rather than Spurs’ own endeavours.

That stifling came largely from City’s dominance in possession – 61% to Tottenham’s 39% - and while fans and observers alike often make too much of the tiki-taka style that Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona side mastered a decade ago, it’s hard to deny that unless your counter-attacks are almost perfectly clinical, it’s difficult to win a game of football if you can’t get hold of the ball.

And this afternoon, despite their best efforts, Spurs never really managed to get the ball and force City into a more defensive shape.

Bernardo Silva had a great game on the right-hand side of midfield – tormenting Ben Davies for almost the whole 90 minutes – but perhaps more plaudits should belong to City’s central midfield trio of Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne – who was replaced by the equally impressive Fernandinho.

They never really allowed Christian Eriksen any room, and their efforts to keep hold of the ball paid off.