Manchester City 2-2 Tottenham: Highlights and recap

Manchester City and Tottenham played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at the Etihad on Saturday, Jan. 21. Here are all the highlights from the match.

The build up to this match was dominated by a question about Pep Guardiola’s ability to build a functioning defense. His answer was to double down in attack, opting to play a 4-1-4-1 with Yaya Toure City’s only defensive midfield presence.

In the first half, at least, the approach worked. City’s midfield four pressed up on Tottenham’s back three and created several good openings early on in the match, with David Silva and Kevin De Bruyne impressing in the middle.

Spurs’ league-best defense held firm, however, with Toby Alderweireld, Kevin Wimmer, Eric Dier and Victor Wanyama all being forced into emergency defending in their own box. Mauricio Pochettino was concerned enough with his side’s performance that he switched to a back four midway through the half, but City continued to dominate even after the switch.

Tottenham’s front three of Harry Kane, Dele Alli and Christian Eriksen were quiet throughout the half, though they threatened occasionally on the counter. Spurs’ main attacking outlets were full-backs Kyle Walker and Danny Rose, but their promising runs forward amounted to little.

City finally made their dominance pay early in the second half, when Leroy Sane forced Hugo Lloris into a mistake before tapping the ball into an empty net. Lloris was the center of attention minutes later, when he dropped a cross at the feet of De Bruyne, who converted to give City a 2-0 lead.

Tottenham found a way back into the match almost immediately, as Walker played a wonderful cross that Alli converted easily at the back post.

Things got controversial after that. Raheem Sterling was played through on goal and, just as he was about to shoot, received a shove in the back from Walker. No penalty. With Guardiola going into full meltdown mode on the sideline, Spurs leveled the match, Heung-min Son converting after a nice flick from Kane.

City had chances to win it, the most notable of which fell to Gabriel Jesus, making his debut off the bench. The Brazilian put the ball in the back of the net with only his third touch after coming on, but the goal was called back for offside.

The Citizens dominated this match against an excellent Tottenham side. Guardiola has good reason to be disappointed after Sterling was denied what looked a certain penalty. If nothing else, he might take consolation from the performance, which served as a timely reminder of how good this side can be.

Highlights

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The result has no impact on the table. Tottenham remain second, though they move a point ahead of Liverpool. City, meanwhile, stay in fifth, a point behind Arsenal, who play Burnley tomorrow.