Manchester City’s failed pursuit of Harry Kane came back to haunt them as the England captain scored twice to secure Tottenham a stunning 3-2 win at the Etihad which blew the Premier League title race back open. Kane’s 95th-minute header, seconds after the hosts had levelled through Riyad Mahrez’s penalty, inflicted City’s first league defeat in 16 games.
‘Many games still to play’
Liverpool can now close to within three points of the leaders should they win their game in hand at home to Leeds on Wednesday. “We didn’t need to lose a game to know how hard it is [to win the league],” said City boss Pep Guardiola. “There are many, many games still to play.” The contrast in form between the sides could not have been starker as Tottenham had lost their previous three league games. But Antonio Conte avoided losing four on the bounce for the first time in his managerial career thanks to a dogged defensive display enlightened by flashes of brilliance by Kane and Son Heung-min on the break.
Conte hates to lose
“First of all I hate to lose. Our reaction was important. “This win will give us more confidence. It wasn’t simple to play Manchester City after three losses in a row,” said Conte. “To get the result we did was really, really special,” said Kane. “We have high standards of ourselves and we’ve got ourselves in a position where we can really fight for the top four.” Conte’s men move up to seventh and close to within four points of fourth-placed Manchester United with two games in hand to come.
Had Kane had his way last summer, he would have been lining up in blue rather than Tottenham white. He was City’s prime target to replace club record goalscorer Sergio Aguero, but it was Kane’s playmaking ability that caught the eye in the first half. Conte claimed Tottenham had been weakened in the January transfer window in his latest withering take on the ability of his squad to Italian media this week. Both of Spurs’ January signings Rodrigo Bentancur and Dejan Kulusevski started and it was the Swede who gave the visitors a dream start.
Kulusevski scores
Kane’s sumptuous through ball broke City’s offside trap and Son unselfishly squared for Kulusevski to slot into an unguarded net on just four minutes. City’s pressure finally told on 33 minutes thanks to an error from Spurs captain Hugo Lloris. Lloris spilled Raheem Sterling’s cross under pressure from Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan swept home the rebound.
Other key result
>> Man United 4-2 Leeds
