Player Ratings: Manchester City Go Five Points Behind Arsenal With 4-2 Win Over Spurs
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A game of two halves saw Manchester City come out on top after a dismal first 45 minutes. Lots of Pep Guardiola’s players redeemed themselves in the second half with a swift comeback.
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Manchester City had to come from two goals behind to ensure they didn’t lose back-to-back Premier League games and close the gap on Arsenal to just five points before their massive game against Manchester United on the weekend.
Tottenham were two goals up at half-time thanks to goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal after two big mistakes from Ederson.
The home side came out into the second half after some hairdryer treatment from Pep Guardiola as within eight minutes they were level thanks to strikes from the two frontmen Julian Alvarez and Erling Haaland.
Riyad Mahrez got the winning goal on the 63rd minute to give Arsenal a massive warning that they are not going away anytime soon.
He got the cherry on top with another goal in stoppage time after more dreadful defending from Spurs.
Next up for City is a home game against Wolves on Sunday before Arsenal’s massive clash.
Player ratings
Ederson: 3
Two massive mistakes for both goals. A shocking pass for the first gifting Spurs the goal in City’s penalty area and for the second he parried the ball into the path of Emerson for a simple goal.
Rico Lewis: 6
Nearly scored in the first half with a long distance strike which took a big deflection but was saved by Hugo Lloris. Made a match saving block at 3-2 denying Ivan Perisic a chance to equalise on the line. Played the inverted full-back role in the first half but in the second 45 minutes started to go forward much more.
Long distance deflected saved well, wow what a block,
John Stones: 6
Was overlapping his right back in the first half which was really bizarre. Couldn’t really have done much to stop the two goals. Other than he coped with Harry Kane rather well.
Manuel Akanji: 5
Made several fouls and looked nervy in possession at times would be a surprise to see him start against Wolves with Ruben Dias back fit.
Nathan Ake: 7
Made some great challenges in the game and got a vital touch on a cross to deny Harry Kane a certain goal. Played a nice ball over the top to Haaland in the first half as well but other than that he did struggle in attacking areas.
Riyad Mahrez: 10
Was the reason why City took all three points in the end. Was involved in the first goal as he crossed it into the box causing chaos. He then got the assist for Haaland after an inverted run into the box nodding the ball down for the strike to tap-in. After that he proceeded to score a brace with one strike beating Lloris at the near post. In the 90th minute he got his second after a Clement Lenglet error allowed him to sprint through on goal and dink the ball over Lloris.
Ilkay Gundogan: 6
Looked like City’s most effective player in the first half as he was finding lots of space in the middle of the park with lots of good forward passes. Was always in and around the box causing Spurs issues.
Rodri: 5
Was arguably as much at fault for Emerson’s goal as his challenge on Kane was so weak it allowed the England international to get back up and fire the ball at Ederson. Got the pre-assist with a lovely floated ball to Mahrez for the equaliser so slightly redeemed himself.
Jack Grealish: 4
Wasn’t really too involved in the goals and wasn’t too much of a treat. Impressive defensive work to stop Heung-Min Son on a counter-attack.
Julian Alvarez: 6.5
Got the first goal in the comeback which was very important with an emphatic poacher like finish. His all round play wasn’t all there though.
Erling Haaland: 7
Had a couple of chances in the first half causing the back three of Spurs issues and should have scored with a header. He did exactly that after the interval from close range but his contribution in build-up play again left a lot to be desired.
Substitutions:
Bernardo Silva (Ilkay Gundogan 80): n/a
Barely seen the ball.
Kyle Walker (Rico Lewis 83): n/a
Came on due to Lewis going down.
Ruben Dias (Erling Haaland 90): n/a
Touched the ball once. Important for City that he is back from injury.
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