Spurs 0-1 Manchester City

The report in full...

The only goal came just two minutes from the end of a game which the visitors had dominated on the whole, defender Nathan Ake touching home a Kevin De Bruyne corner from close range and, while we were in the mix for most of the contest, City restricted us to just one shot at goal across the 90 minutes.

Ake’s strike was the first goal City had scored at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on their sixth visit and, although defeat was tough to take, there were positives with the return to action from a long-term injury of James Maddison, while Academy graduate Oliver Skipp made his 100^th senior appearance in our colours.

The atmosphere cranked up as kick-off approached and you could feel the anticipation inside the stadium, but the first half just didn’t deliver the expected excitement. It was real cat-and-mouse stuff with neither side purring anywhere near the levels they usually reach.

To be fair, City thought they’d finally scored at our new arena with five minutes gone, Oscar Bobb poking home from close range after Guglielmo Vicario had made a superb stop to deny Phil Foden, but the flag went up for offside and that was confirmed after a VAR check.

The visitors had plenty of the ball in the early stages without giving us too much cause for concern, while we grew into the game and started to have some success down the flanks with well-worked moves, but the final ball was missing.

Late in the half, City carved out some chances but every time we had bodies in the way, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg blocking one drive from Mateo Kovacic, before we made three superb blocks in quick succession in the 41^st minute, Pedro Porro’s one from Bobb’s angled drive finally sending the ball out for a corner. The half ended without Spurs having a single shot at goal, yet it felt very much like we were in the contest.

There was a definite increase in intensity after the break and we needed another incredible defensive intervention to prevent City taking the lead in the 48^th minute, Julian Alvarez controlling Bobb’s cross 10 yards out but Micky van de Ven somehow got across to get the merest of touches to send the Argentine’s shot just wide. Then came our first chance of the game, Timo Werner’s lovely pass releasing Brennan Johnson but Stefan Ortega was quickly off his line to smother his shot.

Both sides introduced creative midfielders on their way back from injury midway through the second period, City bringing on De Bruyne while there was a welcome return to action for us for Maddison.

Chances were still at a premium although the visitors suddenly had two massive ones in quick succession. First, Hojbjerg missed a clearance and presented the ball to Bernardo Silva but Vicario saved well low down before a glorious opportunity on 82 minutes, Foden dispossessing Hojbjerg on the edge of our area and finding De Bruyne, who somehow fired wide from 10 yards out.

With two minutes remaining, the breakthrough finally came and it went to the visitors. De Bruyne floated in a corner, Ruben Dias stood in front of Vicario which prevented him from getting a clean punch on the ball and instead, it bounced down for Ake to prod home from a yard out.