Spurs put up a fierce fight but lost to Manchester City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time.
It was a result which many Tottenham fans will welcome, considering a fourth straight home league victory over Pep Guardiola’s side would have tilted the title race back in arch rivals Arsenal’s favour ahead of the final day of the season on Sunday.
Ange Postecoglou set Tottenham up in an unfamiliar 4-3-1-2 formation, and it paid off given their performance. They were ultimately undone by a second-half move which culminated in Kevin De Bruyne squaring for an Erling Haaland tap-in.
Heung-min Son squandered an almighty chance to level late on, before Haaland scored from the spot to seal a 2-0 win for City that puts them on the verge of an historic fourth straight Premier League title.
Dom Smith was at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to rate the Spurs players’ performances…
Guglielmo Vicario 8
Produced a mesmeric first-half save from Phil Foden, claimed crosses well, and denied Kevin De Bruyne with an excellent stop. Superb.
Pedro Porro 7
Has had a brilliant season for Tottenham and was positive down the right flank all evening, but gave away a penalty in stoppage time.
Cristian Romero 6
Defended well for the most part, tracking Haaland’s every move — until the goal.
Radu Dragusin 7
Key headed clearance to deny Haaland a one-on-one path to goal, before an even better block from Bernardo Silva’s shot, which the Romanian rightly celebrated.
Micky van de Ven 6
Did a disciplined job as he came in at left-back, but is best at centre-back and this was not his most expressive performance of a sensational first season at Spurs.
Pape Matar Sarr 7
Pressed really well, and worked hard, playing just ahead of Rodrigo Bentancur before slotting in further back when Dejan Kulusevski replaced the Uruguayan.
Rodrigo Bentancur 7
Decent effort from range, parried by Ederson. Must have known he’d played well... because he gave three studs-up tackles to his seat on the City bench when replaced after 55 minutes.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg 7
Tackled well. Sliced clearance allowed Foden the first major chance of the evening. But worked tirelessly.
Brennan Johnson 5
One overlapping run led to a decent cross in the second half, but again he was largely anonymous. Needs to offer more.
Heung-min Son 5
Son needs to offer more too. Was Tottenham’s main outlet down the left flank in an inventive system that caused City problems. Simply had to score his late chance one-on-one with substitute goalkeeper Stefan Ortega but missed, surely breaking the hearts of Arsenal supporters.
James Maddison 6
Jinked and jived, sending City players this way and that. His influence waned as the game wore on, but his work-rate did not.
Subs:
Dejan Kulusevski (Bentancur, 55’) 6
Forced a save from Ortega from a tight angle in the second half.
Giovani Lo Celso (Sarr, 85’) N/A
Oliver Skipp (Hojbjerg, 85’) N/A
Mikey Moore (Maddison, 90+2) N/A
A stoppage-time debut for the 16-year-old.
Not used: Austin, Gil, Royal, Scarlett, Hall
