Early goal sees City escape with the points

Our recent winning run in the Premier League came to end on Wednesday evening as Manchester City edged a narrow game at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The visitors dominated for much of the first half and went ahead through an Erling Haaland goal, while we were the better team after the break and spurned a number of good opportunities, with skipper Heung-Min Son having a great chance saved by Ederson late on.

Haaland had a goal disallowed in stoppage time before Pape Matar Sarr headed a glorious chance over the bar in the final seconds to leave us empty-handed in N17.

Ange Postecoglou made three changes from the team that started against Ipswich at the weekend, with Pedro Porro replacing Djed Spence at right-back, James Maddison coming in for Dejan Kulusevski in midfield and Wilson Odobert replacing Son in attack, Odobert marking his first start since September.

It didn’t take long for the chances to arrive in the game, although the early ones were mostly for City. A little Mathys Tel flick from a corner in the sixth minute was easily gathered by Ederson and a minute later, Haaland had his first sight of goal, firing straight at Guglielmo Vicario. It wasn’t long before the City striker had his second chance and this time he took it, 12 minutes gone when Jeremy Doku received the ball down the left and threaded a low cross into the area which Haaland tucked home with a left-foot finish.

Vicario was called into action again in the 21st minute, diving low to his right to keep out Doku’s drive after the winger had come in all the way off the flank to a central position. All the danger was coming from Doku and he created two more chances which were missed, the first a cross which found Savinho unmarked at the far post but he skied over the bar before he picked out Haaland again but this time Vicario saved from close range.

For all City’s dominance, it was only a one-goal deficit and we almost cancelled that out when Kevin Danso so nearly got on the end of a Maddison free-kick out wide on our left. And when Pedro Porro swung in another free-kick from the opposite flank just before the interval, Danso rose highest to send a header goalwards which Ederson had to tip over the bar.

It was a more even contest in the early stages of the second half as we enjoyed a lot more possession and almost levelled on 55 minutes when Pedro Porro’s excellent low cross went all the way through to Odobert at the back post but he poked wide on the stretch. A couple more corners around the hour mark saw Danso and Rodrigo Bentancur have headers saved by Ederson as we stepped up the pressure on City before a swift counter-attack from Destiny Udogie ended with Matheus Nunes diverting the ball behind for a corner.

That was Udogie’s last action as we made four changes, with Bentancur, Odobert and Tel also coming off for Spence, Son, Kulusevski and Sarr. And skipper Son so nearly provided the equaliser with five minutes remaining, getting on the end of Brennan Johnson’s cross six yards out, only for Ederson to make an excellent stop.

There was late, late drama at both ends of the pitch, Haaland bundling his way through inside the box and rifling home four minutes into stoppage time only for the referee Jarred Gillett to disallow the goal for handball and VAR – after a three-minute check – verified his decision. We then went straight up the other end, Pedro Porro with another fine cross which flicked off Son and found Sarr 10 yards out unmarked in the centre of the goal, but he headed over the bar and that was our final opportunity.

Match data

Goal: Manchester City – Haaland 12.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Bentancur, Maddison, Sarr.

Referee: Jarred Gillett.

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Partly cloudy, gentle breeze, seven degrees.

Attendance: 60,820.