Five visits, no goals, no wins: City lose at Spurs again to dent title chances

By Jason Burt, Chief Football Correspondent at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium

Never before has a Harry Kane goal for Tottenham Hotspur been so ­celebrated across the whole of north London. The 29-year-old’s predatory first-half strike broke the record he jointly held with Jimmy Greaves as Tottenham’s all-time leading goalscorer, taking him to 267, but also maintained Arsenal’s clear advantage in the Premier League title race.

Spurs may have mixed feelings about helping their bitter rivals preserve their five-point advantage at the top of the table, with a game in hand, but this raw victory over Manchester City was precious for them in their fight for a Champions League qualification place.

Without manager Antonio Conte, who is recuperating at home in Turin after having his gallbladder removed, this was a stirring performance inside a raucous, baying stadium against the champions and was overseen by Cristian Stellini, the Italian’s assistant. “I wanted to win so bad,” Kane later said and it summed up the belligerent mood of his team as they aggressively went at the champions and never relented. Rarely has the “he’s one of our own” chant for the forward been sung so passionately.

For City it was a severe blow. It was also a warning sign. Only a fool would write them off, given their capacity to overwhelm any opponent. But suddenly they look like a team in transition. With Joao Cancelo leaving it means that five of the players who featured in the final-day drama of winning the title against Aston Villa have now gone, leaving Pep Guardiola to juggle permutations, line-ups and formations.

They had the chance, after Arsenal’s defeat at Everton, to close the gap to just two points, but instead lost their fifth game out of five at this stadium, despite Spurs ending the encounter with 10 men after the late dismissal of Cristian Romero.

It was a full-blooded fixture summed up by Romero’s uncompromising approach although questions will again be asked about Guardiola’s team selection, starting Kevin De Bruyne on the bench?

After the 4-2 win against Spurs last month, coming back from 2-0 down at half-time, Guardiola came out fighting, raging against the complacency and “happy flowers” culture at the club. Against Spurs this time, the flowers wilted.

The City manager wanted to sign Kane the year before he brought in Erling Haaland and, while Kane scored, the young Norwegian did not even have a sniff of a goal as City inevitably dominated possession but could not create clear opportunities. It was the first time since he joined City that Haaland did not have even a single attempt on goal, while he is yet to score away from the Etihad in 2023.

And so it ended 1-0 to the “Harry Kane team” – as Guardiola famously referred to Spurs – with the goal also being his 200th in the Premier League.

It was an “I was there” moment and came 15 minutes in. Rodri was caught overplaying. His importance to City’s system is crucial, but this was not the midfielder’s best game and, as he dallied before attempting to find Rico Lewis on the edge of his own penalty area, he left the 18-year-old under too much pressure. Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg stole away possession and held off opponents before stabbing the ball to Kane, who struck it across Ederson and into the net.

Until then it had felt almost too easy for City, who were enjoying 84 per cent of possession, but the goal gave Spurs a rallying point. It was set up for them to choose their moments to press and target Rodri and also, crucially, to break on the counter-attack. The game plan worked to a tee in what was their best performance of the season. It helped that City continued to overplay, Guardiola throwing his arms up in exasperation as Haaland spurned the chance to shoot and instead picked out Jack Grealish, who came in for some rough challenges, but was not so well-placed. He curled the ball over.

City came close to drawing level in first-half added time when the ball ran through to Riyad Mahrez, who took a touch and crashed a half-volley off the crossbar. But that was as close as they came.

Guardiola called for De Bruyne just before the hour and it looked like he might provide the key to unlock Spurs as, with a clever free-kick, he picked out Julian Alvarez whose shot was deflected over by Eric Dier.

Spurs remained defiant and almost scored again when Kane was inches away from reaching Ivan Perisic’s low cross after another rapid counter-attack.

Ederson would later deny Kane before, in added time, Rodri appeared set to head home the equaliser, only for Hugo Lloris to get fingertips to the cross and also catch the Spaniard in the face. It was not Rodri or City’s day. Instead it emphatically belonged to Kane, Spurs and Arsenal.

Spurs 1 Man City 0: as it happened, below

07:09 PM

Thanks for following this one

From myself, Thom Gibbs and Jason Burt, thanks and goodnight. We will be back this week for more live football blogging action.

07:08 PM

Pep Guardiola talks to Sky Sports

"We started really well, as usually happens against Tottenham home and away, but after we made a mistake they punished us - 1-0 down it is different, we had chances, and of course when we lose balls in transition with Kulusevski and Son, it is not easy. We dropped three points."

Did players follow the plan? "Most of the time. But it is not easy when 10 players defend, and sit back a little bit more than in the Etihad two weeks ago. We played good, started well and missed maybe the last pass, to shoot."

De Bruyne introduction? "I wanted him for the last pass, to find between the lines, he can make one of these actions and that was the reason."

City's poor record at Spurs: "Sooner or later it is going to change, but it is strange we haven't scored one goal, we have missed penalties in the past. To find an explanation is not easy.

"We found the positions, made good balls to the channels, but missed the last action up front.

"We are not in the position to think about being champions, just the next game, Aston Villa, we will prepare well and play our game as best as possible.

"Tottenham has a fantastic team and squad and they punish you. They have a lot of quality up front and don't need much with transitions, set pieces, give a lot of credit to them."

07:00 PM

Stats - have Spurs got City's number?

• Tottenham have won five of their last seven Premier League games against Manchester City (L2) and each of their last four against them at home, by an aggregate scoreline of 6-0.

• Under Pep Guardiola, Manchester City have lost more Premier League games against Tottenham (6) than they have against any other side.

• Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has lost all five of his visits to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in all competitions – it's the away ground he's managed at the most without ever winning in his managerial career.

• Tottenham have won back-to-back Premier League games for the first time since October (vs Brighton & Everton), while Manchester City have lost consecutive away league games in a single season for the first time since March-July 2020 (run of 3).

• Tottenham have scored the opening goal in six of their last seven Premier League games against Manchester City and in each of the last four.

• Tottenham's Harry Kane (200 goals in 304 games) has become just the third player to reach 200 Premier League goals after Alan Shearer (260) and Wayne Rooney (208), needing the fewest appearances to reach this milestone (Shearer 306, Rooney 462).

• Harry Kane has scored the opening goal in seven Premier League games this season, more than any other player, with Tottenham going on to win all seven of those matches.

• Erling Haaland failed to have a single attempt on goal in a game for Manchester City for the first time, while this was the second occasion he failed to have a touch in the opposition box as a City player (also vs Borussia Dortmund in October).

06:57 PM

Kane

"It's quite surreal, a magical feeling to do it here in front of the home fans and to win the game, it's everything I dreamed about

"I've been here since I was 11 years old, there's been a lot of hard work, sacrifice and dedication.

"It's hard to take it all in now, I'm sure when I'm a bit older and looking back at my career it's something I'll be very proud of.

"It would have been a special feeling against whoever, but to do it in a big game, against a big side, in an important moment in our season is amazing.

"I'm going to take it all in, enjoy it, and look forward to the next one.

"The feelings [after scoring] were overwhelming, a lot of adrenaline. But then I was desperate to win, to have this moment and to have three points

Greaves?

"Jimmy was one of the best strikers to ever play the game, so to even be mentioned in his company is an amazing feeling. He was one of the greats of the game, so to go above him is a dream come true."

06:57 PM

Haaland

that is his first City game without a shot on goal.

06:52 PM

Kyle Walker

"Disappointing obviously. We have not got a result at this stadium, again (they've never won here).

"It is a bit of a cat and mouse. If Riyad's had gone in it would have been a different story.

"I think it is about creating chances, there are things around the box we can improve on. Creating more clear cut action.

"It is a difficult team to fit into because the manager demands so much. Do we play better without Erling, I hear that all the time. Nobody is saying that when he scored 25 goals. But this is the team we have got and we will fight until the end of the season.

"Some decisions could have been looked at a little bit more today."

06:49 PM

Reactions coming in

06:41 PM

Bit more from Kane on Greaves

"A complete hero. Yo even be in that company is special. I am sure his family will be proud as well. Overall, it was a really good night."

Harry also thanks some key figures from his own story.

"Tim Sherwood gave me my first start, and I was so desperate to make an impression. There’s been a lot of hard work since then with Mauricio and all the coaches. It’s a magical feeling."

06:38 PM

A tale of two strikers

06:31 PM

Graeme Souness on Jimmy Greaves

"I was at Spurs when I was 15 and I trained with Jimmy Greaves. A superstar. He scored without lashing it, just passing the ball but with tremendous power. His legs were very strong. He was a complete unit. The pitches were heavy but he glided over them. He was a superstar, but he was a good guy as well. He would say hello to you even as a 15 year old boy."

06:28 PM

Kane

"There has been so much talk about it over the last few weeks I just wanted to get it done. And to do it against one of the best teams in the world is great. When I started nine years ago I never thought I would get to this (and also join the 200 PL club alongside Wayne and Shearer) so it is great. And to go past Jimmy Greaves, one of the greatest strikers who ever played the game..."

06:24 PM

Full time: Spurs 1 Man City 0

A spicy affair, and Spurs have clung on with ten men to secure the points.

06:22 PM

90+ mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Deep ball into the Spurs box, Lloris comes out, arms waving around rather disconcertingly and he seems to have smacked Rodri in the kisser in the process just as Rodri heads over. Var gives no penalty. Something of a value judgement that one. Don't think it was deliberate or anything.

Now Walker with a pointless foul on Sessegnon. Booked.

06:19 PM

90 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Haaland looks irritated as a moment goes begging: Lloris snatched the ball away just as the Goal Elk was about to do his thing.

06:16 PM

87 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Kulusevski is sacrificed to allow Davinson Sanchez on as Spurs look to shore things up.

De Bruyne is standing over the freekick, maybe 32 yards out. He cannot get it over the wall. It deflects off Kane and onto the shoulder of Højbjerg. Højbjerg, rather pathetically, now pretends the ball hit him in the head so he can buy a few seconds off the concussion protocol.

06:15 PM

86 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

And no sooner said than done! Grealish runs at Romero, does him, and the Argentine brings him down for a fair dinkum second yellow card.

06:14 PM

85 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Plenty of argy bargy in this second half. I fancy a sending off.

06:11 PM

83 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Kulusevski runs into the box, young Lewis does well to keep him at bay. Spurs have a corner, which City repel.

06:09 PM

81 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

City's Grealish is unhappy with one of the ball children, whom he feels has taken more than a reasonable amount of time to return the ball.

06:08 PM

80 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Emerson has had another good game, and here pops up with an important tackle.

Sessegnon, on as a sub, cannot quite combine with Son as they progress down the left.

06:05 PM

76 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Now Spurs break! It's three on three, Son haring down the centre and he elects to shoot from outside the box. No dice.

06:03 PM

75 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

City plead for a penalty as Ake volleys the ball into the area. Think they wanted a handball. Well, we all have our needs and wants.

Perisic has fouled Silva and is rightly booked.

06:02 PM

73 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Rodri heads over from a corner.

06:00 PM

70 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Kane gets away from his markers, gets in between Akjani and Walker. Some of these City midfielders are toiling to keep up - Jack, KDB - and Ederson has to make an excellent stop to deny the England man.

05:59 PM

69 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Now it is Kane's turn to shoot and fire wide.

05:58 PM

68 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Exciting now. Alvarez gets the ball on the edge of the box, spins and fires a fizzing shot not far wide. City are up for this.

05:57 PM

66 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

On the counter, Son Heung-min finds Perisic. He crosses and Kane cannot quite slide it in at the far post.

05:53 PM

64 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

From that corner, Akanji has a shot and Romero throws himself in the way... Appeals for a handball but no. KDB with the follow up wide.

05:52 PM

63 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

City have a freekick down by the flag, sort of where a hockey short corner would be. Slid low to the edge of the box where Julian Alvarez hits it hard and true. Takes a deflection off a Spurs knee and goes behind for a corner. There was a Var check to establish what bit of Dier it'd struck.

05:49 PM

Quite a sight

05:47 PM

59 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Dier clatters KDB.

05:47 PM

58 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Mahrez comes off and De Bruyne, not a bad sub, comes on. If he does the business, does that expose Pep to "too clever by half" accusations?

05:43 PM

55 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Corner to Spurs. Ben Davies with a decent front post run and the angled header. Over.

05:40 PM

52 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Royal and Grealish are in a good battle. A tackle from the latter on the former gives City a corner. Jack gives him some verbals.

As for the corner, Grealish takes it himself, deep, Julian Alvarez gets the ball but runs it out of play.

05:38 PM

49 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Grealish bombs forward and is stopped, unfairly. Not a lot comes from the freekick.

05:38 PM

48 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Emerson crosses and Kane air-shots! Even guys with 267 goals can make a mistake...

05:37 PM

47 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Walker cuts out Son's cross before Kane can pounce.

05:33 PM

46 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Good atmos as we resume, not least because are the side surging forward early on.

05:30 PM

267 for Kane then

and here is his first.

05:26 PM

Further First half thoughts

City had like 70% of the ball but didn't do all that much with it, they look a shadow of their lethal selves. Jack Grealish seems to be mainly making tackles. With the quality City have there is always a chance, of course, but it's clear something is not quite right.

05:18 PM

Half time: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Tottenham deserving of the lead but you sense that this one is not yet settled.

Here's David James on the BBC: "I am not sure what Pep is going to do, because it doesn't look like they fully understand what they are supposed to be doing on the pitch."

05:17 PM

45 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Mahrez has hit the bar! It all comes out of not a lot, Grealish with a hopeful sort of a cross that Davies might have cut out, but it goes all the way through to Mahrez . RM catches a left foot volley very nicely indeed and the horizontal woodwork facility is the Spurs saviour.

05:14 PM

43 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Spurs have a corner and Kane is on the premises; good defending though from Ake. Both Kane and Dier have shots there but City, by hook or by crook, keep them out.

05:12 PM

41 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

This is better from City - it suddenly all opens up, the Spurs defensive midfield area is gaping open and men are not at their posts. Haaland carries it, feeds Grealish, and Jack's effort to curl it in from the left with his right is not far wide.

Thom Gibbs writes: "Unusual to witness a Premier League goal that everybody in the stadium recognises is more than just a Premier League goal. The roar for Harry Kane's record-breaker came in two parts, first as the apex of the move which put the ball into Tottenham feet in a promising position, then a louder, longer echo as the realisation dawn that Kane had eclipsed Jimmy Greaves.

"His celebration was fairly muted given the circumstances. Not for him the commemorative vest, a la Ian Wright when he broke Cliff Bastin's record for Arsenal in 1997. Although if Kane were aiming to mimic that he would have gone a goal too early. Immediate brutal yellow card punishment for any sort of vest-based celebration these days too. Rules are rules.

"City very floppy and giving the ball away far more than usual, but you sense Spurs might rue the number of presentable positions they have already squandered in this game. Got to make one of these bonus transitions stick, before half-time, ideally."

05:11 PM

39 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Rodri has a shot but Lloris is equal to it. For mine, that chance only came about because of a foul in the build up, on Harry Kane.

05:11 PM

38 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Spurs are impressing here. Winning the duels, seem to be putting in a shift.

Something is not right with City. Here is our in-house Gooner...

05:08 PM

34 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Few running repairs on Hojbjerg too. Both him and Grealish are ok.

05:05 PM

32 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

What a brilliant player. I like Harry, too. Seems like a gentleman.

There is a delay because Jack Grealish is having a bit of treatment.

05:03 PM

28 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Game is getting a bit spicy, which is all to the good.

City on the front foot but it's Spurs who are producing the more dangerous moments. They break via Kane and Kulusevski. Son joins in, now Emerson Royal With Cheese crosses and Jack Grealish - who seems to be doing a concerning amount of defensive work - puts it out for a corner.

04:56 PM

25 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Romero has chopped down Haaland, absolutely cleaned him out and that's a blatant yellow, which he receives without complaint.

04:54 PM

22 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

Bentancur goes into the book for a hard block on Rico Lewis. Perhaps a bit of a harsh yellow, given that Grealish didn't get booked just now when the opponent was in a more advantageous situation. Both sets of supporters are booing: Spurs because they thought it was a soft yeller, City because they were in the middle of a dangerous attack and the ref might have played advantage.

04:52 PM

18 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

City have it but lose it, Kane breaks and Grealish fouls him from behind with a wee push in the back.

04:49 PM

17 mins: Spurs 1 Man City 0

City dust themselves down, surge forward, and Bernardo hits a low shot straight at the keeper.

04:46 PM

GOAL! Spurs 1 Man City 0 (Kane 15)

He's done it! The game has been very quiet so far, but City have over-elaborated at the back. Rodri tried to pass it to Lewis but played his young colleague into all sorts of trouble.

Højbjerg presses, pounces, wins it and carries the ball forward. He slips it to Harry Kane and the great goalscorer does what he does best - he slots it away with authority and he's scored his 267th goal for Spurs.

Here is Harry's record-breaking moment.

04:44 PM

13 mins: Spurs 0 Man City 0

Spurs really looking to keep it quiet. Not a lot of press, just the block.

04:41 PM

10 mins: Spurs 0 Man City 0

City, the visitors, have had 84% of the possession thus far.

04:39 PM

8 mins: Spurs 0 Man City 0

City getting some time on the ball, Grealish with some carries, and they build here. Out to Walker on the right. Spurs well penned back. City recycle and keep it alive.

04:36 PM

4 mins: Spurs 0 Man City 0

Corner lofted very high and deep, Ake finds himself under it as it drops from the sky with snow on.... heads it back into the danger area. Might maybe have gone for goal there. Spurs tidy up.

04:34 PM

3 mins: Spurs 0 Man City 0

Mahrez with an early opportunity to stick a freekick in. Rodri the target but not getting that. City keep it alive however and have won themselves a corner.

04:32 PM

1 mins: Spurs 0 Man City 0

City in a peculiar charcoal and rust outfit. Not quite fully black or fully red.

Son the first player to show, a busy run down the right. Runs into traffic.

04:30 PM

Meet the new/temp boss

04:29 PM

Where's your money?

Feels like a bigger match for City than it does for Spurs to be honest. They go with Ake and Akanji in centre defence.

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Romero, Dier, Davies, Emerson, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic, Kulusevski, Son, Kane. Subs: Porro, Skipp, Sanchez, Richarlison, Danjuma, Sessegnon, Forster, Lenglet, Bissouma.

Man City: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Ake, Lewis, Bernardo Silva, Rodri, Mahrez, Alvarez, Grealish, Haaland. Subs: Perrone, Dias, Phillips, Gundogan, Laporte, De Bruyne, Ortega, Gomez, Palmer.

Referee: Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire)

04:25 PM

The players

are in the tunnel.

04:25 PM

Pre-match fuel

04:24 PM

Gaga under fire

My esteemed colleague and all-around excellent person Thom Gibbs is present at the Tottingham Hotspur Stadium and this is what he writes:

"Two can play at your AI game... Here's what ChatGPT has to say:

Tough to disagree with the terrifying piece of near-sentient code, apart from its friendly greeting for Andrew Gibney.

On the way in I wandered past a small but livid protest against the owners of the club. One banner took aim at Daniel Levy's priorities (ESL, Greed, NFL) but also included Lady Gaga. Seems harsh on Gaga."

04:10 PM

City backs

Good work from Telegraph Sport's Jamie Carragher on Sky Sports as he explains City's defensive formation: it looks like Walker plays right back.

04:07 PM

Pep Guardiola

"Nothing changes after the Arsenal result, we have to do our job. De Bruyne is out for tactical reasons. Foden felt really ill in the night so he has gone back to Manchester."

04:06 PM

Cristian Stellini

one of Conte's assistants is doing the pre-match. "Conte will be watching from home today. We spoke about the team but I picked it. It is important in our philosophy that we see how players are in the last two training sessions."

04:03 PM

Scarves

04:01 PM

Excellent

result for Forest there. Leeds the victim.

03:57 PM

Dressing room

03:54 PM

Fans

03:48 PM

New blogger in town

Having a bit of a play with Copy.ai's blogging generation thing, which I firmly believe will be putting me out to seed in a year or so. Here is its take so far:

Quite encouraging that this is almost all totally wrong so far. Maybe 18 months. Still, let's react to their performance on the pitch, in the comments section below should you wish to do that.

I'll give the machine another crack.

Better, although Man City are not the Premier League leaders. And I have no idea why our new robot overlord has called itself Andrew Gibney. Still, it's on the right lines I guess.

03:35 PM

Teams

Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris, Romero, Dier, Davies, Emerson, Hojbjerg, Bentancur, Perisic, Kulusevski, Son, Kane. Subs: Porro, Skipp, Sanchez, Richarlison, Danjuma, Sessegnon, Forster, Lenglet, Bissouma.

Man City: Ederson, Walker, Akanji, Ake, Lewis, Rodri, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Alvarez, Grealish, Haaland. Subs: Perrone, Dias, Phillips, Gundogan, Laporte, De Bruyne, Ortega, Gomez, Palmer.

Referee: Andrew Madley (West Yorkshire)

03:24 PM

Tottenham vs Man City

Good afternoon and welcome to our live blog of Spurs against Manchester City; it's a lovely mild sunny day in North London and we could be in for a very enjoyable afternoon. Everyone on both sides today will have enjoyed Arsenal's home defeat to Everton yesterday; that ensured that Arsenal's lead over Man City is cut to five points, and the Etihad side have a better goal difference, to boot. Spurs fans will have enjoyed it because, well, for the obvious reasons. Spurs, themselves in fifth place, are 14 points behind the Gunners having played a game more.

Many and varied subplots are offered for your consideration this Sunday late lunchtime. Firstly, Harry Kane is level with Jimmy Greaves on 266 in Tottenham goals. One person who has allegedly been keeping quite the eye on Sir Harold is Erling Haaland. Guardiola said this week: "He is aware that he can improve in many departments. I am pretty sure maybe watching Harry Kane but not necessarily watching [only] Harry, other players. He has the will: ‘I can do better.’ With his age, it is the best thing he can believe. Otherwise it will be boring." Pep apparently wants EH to get more involved in the all round aspect of the game. It would be quite funny, for the neutral anyway, if it turns out that buying him as Tino Asprilla-d the whole business. Serious people were writing not long ago that City would win the Premier League forever.

We will also keep an eye on how the sides settle after the transfer window.

Our Manchester expert James Ducker thinks he might have identified something that is ailing City.

"So rotation has not been so much an obstacle as key to City’s success in the past but, even then, you always got the sense that Guardiola knew his best team. Is that still the case, though? It has really not seemed like it."

Another factor worthy of consideration is that Antonio Conte has been having some medical issues, really hope he is okay.

We will see who is on the Tottenham bench and in the Tottenham team soon. The kick off for this one is at half four and teams will be named an hour before.