Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Manchester City: Hits and Flops from the dramatic game | Premier League 2019-20

Tottenham picked up a huge win over Manchester City today
Tottenham picked up a huge win over Manchester City today

Jose Mourinho picked up his biggest win to date as Tottenham Hotspur boss today, when his side defeated Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City 2-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. The win puts Spurs within touching distance of the all-important Champions League spots, while City are now a massive 22 points behind Liverpool at the top of the table.

Did Tottenham deserve their win? It’s questionable; the Cityzens had 67% possession and had 18 shots on goal to Spurs’ 3, but of course, football is all about the goals you score and concede, not about possession, and in reality it was the home players who were often more impressive.

Here are the hits and the flops from today’s game in North London.

Hit: Steven Bergwijn

Steven Bergwijn marked his Spurs debut with a goal
Steven Bergwijn marked his Spurs debut with a goal

Despite suggesting Steven Bergwijn might be used from the bench in his Tottenham debut, Jose Mourinho wasted no time in deploying his new signing from the off, and the £27m man was pitted against Manchester City’s Kyle Walker on the left side as a wide forward, with Lucas Moura playing centrally.

Despite some bright sparks early in the game, it didn’t look like it would be the Dutchman’s day. Bergwijn was dispossessed twice, failed to make an impact with his dribbling ability, and once he was moved into a central role in the second half, had the same issue in trying to reach some long balls that Lucas had in the first half.

But then came a switch to the right hand side, and suddenly Bergwijn came alive; he won a corner by knocking the ball into a City defender, and then scored a fantastic goal to put his side ahead directly after the set-piece. It wasn’t the easiest chance to score, either; the ball came to the former PSV man from Lucas, and Bergwijn was able to chest it before volleying past a couple of defenders and into the bottom corner.

The new signing’s debut was curtailed less than 10 minutes later when he was withdrawn with what looked like a mild calf strain, but overall, the goal made him an instant hero to Tottenham fans, and his first match must go down as a big success.

Flop: Oleksandr Zinchenko

Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off for a cynical foul
Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off for a cynical foul

During the first half – which was bossed by Manchester City – left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko was one of the champions’ most outstanding players. The Ukrainian left Son Heung Min with no room to operate and cut him off on numerous occasions, while also using the ball wisely.

The lone black mark on him was a needless booking; when Raheem Sterling went down under the challenge of Hugo Lloris, a melee broke out between the players and Zinchenko sprinted into the middle of it while showing plenty of aggression. Few could’ve guessed how it would cost City dearly.

Early in the second half, the Ukrainian was beaten by Harry Winks, and cynically stepped across the England man to stop a breakaway attack. But of course, while the foul only warranted a yellow card, it was Zinchenko’s second, and he was duly dismissed.

With City down to 10 men, Spurs then had the confidence to press forward and eventually win the match. Would they have done that had City remained with 11 men? Probably not, which makes Zinchenko today’s biggest flop.

Hit: Harry Winks

Harry Winks helped Spurs to a win on his birthday
Harry Winks helped Spurs to a win on his birthday

Today marked Harry Winks’ 24th birthday, and thankfully, after the result that his Spurs side pulled off against Manchester City, he’ll be able to celebrate well tonight. The England international was paired with Giovani Lo Celso in the centre of Tottenham’s midfield, and over the course of 90 minutes, worked just as hard as any other player on the pitch.

Admittedly, Winks’ passing accuracy wasn’t quite as high as it normally is; today he averaged a completion rate of 78% compared to his Premier League average of 89.8%, but he was still a key man for Jose Mourinho’s side, consistently pressing City’s attackers, stealing the ball back when he could, and beginning Tottenham’s attacks from a deeper role. And it was of course his breakaway that led to Oleksandr Zinchenko’s red card – the turning point of the game.

Winks has now played the last 4 of Spurs’ Premier League fixtures from the start, and it looks like his partnership with Lo Celso could be one worth keeping faith with, as the Argentine’s ball-winning abilities and creativity paired with the England man’s passing ability gives Spurs a lot of traction.

If nothing else, today will be a birthday for Winks to remember.

Flop: Raheem Sterling

Raheem Sterling had a game to forget
Raheem Sterling had a game to forget

Manchester City winger/forward Raheem Sterling has struggled for goals in recent matches; he hasn’t found the back of the net since City’s December loss against Wolves, and today wasn’t his finest 90 minutes by a great margin.

Not only did Sterling only take one shot on goal throughout the game – a blocked effort that didn’t make the target – but his efforts at creating chances for his teammates seemed to be few and far between too, with one pass to Ilkay Gundogan being particularly poor. The England man simply needed to slide the ball across to the German, but overhit it, which caused Gundogan to sky his shot.

To make matters worse, Sterling was also involved in a pair of flashpoints and could easily have seen a red card. His challenge on Dele Alli during the first half was simply horrible, as he lunged over the top of the ball and smashed into the Spurs man’s ankle. A few inches higher and it could’ve been a horror break, but somehow VAR failed to step in, meaning Sterling was only booked.

Then after Hugo Lloris saved Gundogan’s penalty, the England forward chased in for the rebound, only to go down, claiming another spot-kick. However, a VAR check showed that there had been no contact between him and Lloris – so quite why he escaped a second yellow is anyone’s guess.

Sterling’s day was summed up when he was later substituted following what looked like a hamstring injury; this was one to forget for him.

Hit: Hugo Lloris

Hugo Lloris made an inspirational penalty save
Hugo Lloris made an inspirational penalty save

Early in the season, when Hugo Lloris made a handful of gaffes – including a memorable one that cost Tottenham a goal against Southampton – many fans were calling for the French keeper to be dropped in favour of understudy Paulo Gazzaniga. In the end, Mauricio Pochettino – and Jose Mourinho – had their hands forced by an elbow injury to Lloris that kept him out for 4 months.

Lloris returned to action last month, and while Gazzaniga didn’t perform badly in his absence, it was clear today exactly why the Frenchman remains Tottenham’s #1. This was a fantastic showing from the World Cup winner – not only did he make 5 saves, including one from Ilkay Gundogan’s penalty and another incredible one to direct Sergio Aguero’s shot onto the post, but he also gave Spurs’ defence an air of calm that his Argentine understudy was unable to.

City threw everything they could at Tottenham today but simply couldn’t beat Lloris, who also showed bravery with a number of claims in the air – as well as some incredible smarts to stop a Kevin De Bruyne cross-come-shot from heading into the net late on.

Defenders Toby Alderweireld and Japhet Tanganga also performed admirably for Tottenham today, but who knows what Jose Mourinho’s side would’ve come away with from this game without their French superman in goal. The likely truth is nothing – meaning Lloris was a huge hit today.

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Edited by Kingshuk Kusari