Tottenham Hotspur continued their impressive recent Premier League record at Manchester City with a 2-0 win yesterday, as Joao Palhinha took advantage of a goalkeeping blunder by James Trafford, and Brennan Johnson also found the back of the net.
Spurs, who have now won three of their last five league games at the Etihad, maintained their unbeaten start under manager Thomas Frank following an opening 3-0 win over Burnley.
“We know it’s always difficult to play against City — here at Etihad even more,” Frank said.
“The clean sheet makes me very happy; it’s a big thing we’ve been working on, the defensive side of the game. Last year we had six clean sheets, so yeah, very big for me.”
Both sides squandered chances before Johnson broke the deadlock in the 35th minute, thanks largely to lazy defending by Rico Lewis. Johnson latched onto a pass from Richarlison and finished with a shot into the top corner.
The goal was initially flagged for offside but that decision was overturned by VAR.
Palhinha, signed on loan from Bayern Munich this month, doubled the visitors’ lead in first-half stoppage time when new signing Trafford inexplicably tried to play out from the back to nervy gasps from the crowd.
Richarlison pounced, rolling the ball to Palhinha whose deflected shot found the back of the net. “The coach pushed me to come here, and showed me the project he has here at Tottenham. It is such a great club, and I’m really glad to be in the Premier League again,” Palhinha said.
The 22-year-old Trafford, meanwhile, started for the second successive game amid speculation that City’s regular keeper Ederson is headed to Galatasaray in Türkiye. He gifted Palhinha a goal with his shocking attempt to play the ball out from the back.
Pep Guardiola’s City, champions four years in a row before finishing third last season, started with a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, but were brought quickly back down to earth as thousands of home fans poured out of the ground before the final whistle. “Last game against Wolves, everybody said ‘everything is fine’ but I said it’s the first game, so many things can happen, it’s the same right now,” Guardiola said.
Joyous Spurs supporters, meanwhile, chanted “It’s happened again, Manchester City, it’s happened again” after last season’s 4-0 win at the Etihad.
City had started well, with Omar Marmoush forcing Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario into action and an Erling Haaland header that floated just over the bar.
Frank, who led Brentford to a 2-1 victory at Manchester City in 2022, became the third manager to beat Guardiola teams away in the league with two different sides after Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid and Manchester United) and Antonio Conte (Chelsea and Spurs).
City lost defender Rayan Ait-Nouri after 22 minutes due to injury. “I didn’t speak with the doctors [yet]. We have seven days. Hopefully, he can be OK,” Guardiola said.
Elsewhere, Marcus Tavernier scored as Bournemouth beat Wolves at the Vitality Stadium, while Burnely won 2-0 against Sunderland via goals by Josh Cullen and Jaidon Anthony. On Friday night, Chelsea were defeated 5-1 by West Ham.
Reuters
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