Nuno Espirito Santo’s Tottenham reign got off to the perfect start as his side stunned champions Manchester City with a 1-0 win courtesy of Heung-Min Son’s second-half strike in a thrilling encounter at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium.
Harry Kane was left out of the squad as the England captain has been the subject of transfer interest from Manchester City throughout the summer. Guardiola started with new signing Jack Grealish with Nathan Ake and Benjamin Mendy on the left of the City defence.
Grealish could have won a penalty as he was tripped on the edge of the box by Oliver Skipp and Ilkay Gundogan’s free-kick was deflected inches wide. Moments later Fernandinho missed a chance when he headed wide, while Joao Cancelo and Riyad Mahrez sliced good chances wide.
Spurs gradually grew into the game and soon started causing City’s defence problems. Son saw a deflected shot fly inches wide of the target as Cancelo did well to block the shot just before the break.
A lively first half ended with no shots on target for either side. City lacked urgency following the interval and showed just why they are in the market for a striker as they struggled to test Hugo Lloris. Spurs were always a threat on the counter
City had looked susceptible all day to the Tottenham’s counter and after Moura’s delicious flick into Bergwijn, Son darted across to the right to receive his pass. Nathan Ake was drawn wide and couldn’t readjust his feet quick enough as Son chopped inside and fired his shot through Dias, beyond Ederson and into the corner.
The goal sparked joyous scenes around the stadium. Steven Bergwijn had a huge chance to double Spurs’ lead moments later when he fired into the side-netting as City were again easily cut open on the counter-attack.
Guardiola finally turned to his star-studded bench to turn the game around with Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko introduced. De Bruyne drew a fine save from Hugo Lloris but Spurs held on to secure three points that represents a major statement in the Premier League.
The result means that Spurs continued its recent dominance over City, winning their fourth game in a row against the Citizens at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in all competitions.
It is also the first time Pep Guardiola has lost four such away games in a row in his managerial career.
“In general, we arrived in the final third many times but were not clinical enough,” Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said. “We are more or less the same team from last season but we are missing some people. Kevin [de Bruyne] hadn’t completed a full training session.”
“We’ve lost the last three games 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, 1-0 so we have to do better. We tried everything to win. We have another week ahead to get players back and hopefully they can, step by step. This sometimes happens. We arrived many times in the final third but it was the same story.”
“We are good enough to score plenty of goals and I’m sure we’re going to do it.”
Tottenham will travel to the Molineux stadium to take on Wolves next Sunday at 2pm, while Manchester City host Norwich City at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Premier League results
Brentford 2-0 Arsenal
Manchester United 5-1 Leeds United
Burnley 1-2 Brighton
Chelsea 3-0 Crystal Palace
Everton 3-1 Southampton
Leicester 1-0 Wolves
Watford 3-2 Aston Villa
Norwich 0-3 Liverpool
Newcastle United 2-4 West Ham United
Tottenham 1-0 Manchester City
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