City 1 Tottenham 0
April 20th 2019 att.54,489
After the epic game on Wednesday which City won - but lost! we could not have expected anything similar today. It needed hard graft and some very good saves from Edersontot give us the vital three points. City got off to a great start with a goal by Foden - a diving header which was his very first Premier League goal. However it was hard work for the rest of the afternoon! Some early passing errors by Stone did not help. Fortunately Laporte was back to his best and he made one vital tackle on Son in the first half. The inclusion of Zinchenko helped too as his work rate is very good and he links well with colleagues.
Top marks to Benardo Silva who has come on in leaps and bounds this season and must be one of the first choices now.Phil Foden too played well and in notching his first Premiership goal he became the third youngest City player to score after Richards and Sturridge. He ran over 7 miles during the match - more than any other City player and an accurate pass rate of nearly 83%.Not bad for a Stockport lad!
The bad moment came when De Bruyne appeared to pull a muscle and had to be subbed by Fernandinho. I doubt whether he will ;play again this season. After the strong emotions of the mid week game City needed something special today and the team showed a lot of determination and character to get those three points and go back to top of the league.
City made three changes from Wednesday - Foden in for Silva, Zinchenko in for Mendy and Stones in for Kompany.
There were plenty of Spurs fans present so the atmosphere was good on a very hot afternoon
As early as the 3rd minute Son broke down the left and Ederson had to make a good save
Two minutes later Benardo crossed the ball to Aguero who headed across goal.....
......to Foden who dived to head the cross into the goal - terrific !!!
The South Stand went mad with joy.
Foden rushes over to thank Aguero and the team celebrate a great start
Ederson saves from Eriksen
but it goes straight at the keeper
Laporte battles at a corner
Following a shot on goal De Bruyne kicks the ball out and sits down awaiting treatment.
It does not look good as Fernandinho comes on for De Bruyne
Just before half time Son breaks and Ederson has to make a good save once more
4 minutes into the second half and Foden shoots just wide
Vertonghen brings down Aguero but no free kick given
Foden's down but no foul!
All eyes on the ball as City defend a corner
Laporte heads wide at a free kick
Sane on for Aguero shoots wide
City break on 70 minutes and Sterling has a shot saved from close range- a near miss alas
Sterling is tackled and gets mixed up in a situation
Fernandinho is fouled and Wanyama gets a yellow card
Sterling takes the ball to the corner flag with little time to go but there is a skirmish and it ends with Sterling and Vertonghen getting booked
game over -three points and homeward bound - common Cardiff!!!!
Team
Ederson 8.5: Walker 7, Stones 6, Laporte 7.5, Zinchenko 7: Gundogan 7.5, De Bruyne 7 (Fernandinho 7.5) Foden 7.5 (Silva) Benardo 8, Sterling 6.5, Aguero 7 (Sane)
