City 1 Spurs 2
February 14th 2016 54,551
City's poor results against the top four continued with a defeat at the hands of Spurs. The key moment in the game was a penalty for handball awarded by referee Clattenburg. It was a very poor decision as it hit Sterling on the back and it was debatable whether it was actually in the penalty area.
It was a hard fought game with few chances at either end. The big plus point for City was the return of Vincent Kompany and with Otamendi playing well it was an improved City defence. Although it was a better display by City than the game against Leicester our creative expertise appeared to have deserted us as few good chances were created. Aguero was below par and Silva is not quite reaching the heights of last season. Yaya Toure had a better game playing mainly in their half. It was left to Iheanacho to score his 9th goal of the season to give City a fighting chance but a late goal by Spurs gave them the important three points.
City welcomed back Kompany and Fernando came in for Delph. With the big injury list there were several youngsters on the bench
Spurs brought 3000 fans with them
On the 5 minute mark supporters paid tribute to City fans Craig Tarry and pop group Viola Beach who had died in an accident in Sweden
An early effort by Aguero goes over the bar
Otamendi is fouled by Kane
Son Heung-min beats Clichy and shoots past Hart from a narrow angle but luckily for City he was offside
A Silva effort is blocked for a corner and Otamendi heads at goal........
...but the keeper saves easily
City break away with Toure
But he is brought down by Rose
Following the free kick is ball is partially cleared
and runs to Sterling who fires a shot into the chest of Rose who recovers quickly
On 2 minutes Hart has to save from Eriksen and Kompany has to clear the ball to safety
Lloris clears a City corner
Otamendi needs acrobatics to clear from Kane
A Tottenham corner causes a few anxious moments in the City defence and its goalless at half time
On 49 minutes a shot by Toure was deflected and Aguero ran onto the ball but miscued and his shot went well wide
The faces tell the story of that miss!
On 53 minutes disaster struck when Rose crossed and the ball hit the back of Sterling who was on the edge of the area. The referee gave a penalty and hardly a Spurs player appealed
The City players were shocked as were the fans but Kane shot down the middle to beat Hart and Spurs were one up -crazy
The Spurs fans could not believe their good fortune
City came back at Spurs and a Fernandinho header was just too high
A minute later and Silva is fouled by Wimmer who gets booked
Toure takes the free kick and hits the bar with the keeper beaten
The ball is not completely cleared and Lloris has to make a save
Fernandinho tries to score
On 74 minutes Silva passes to Clichy who crosses to the waiting Iheanacho ( on for Fernando)
Our young striker cracks it first time past the keeper to equalize for City - great goal!
Iheanacho and the North Stand celebrate his 9th goal of the season
It's a shame he does not start more games - a hat trick against Chelsea in the cup would be nice!
City were going for a winner now and this effort by Toure was pushed clear by Lloris
Aguero tries to break through
The Spurs defence is kept busy as City attack
On 83 minutes Toure lost the ball and away went Spurs on the break and Eriksen scored past Hart to win the game
Pandemonium broke out among the Spurs fans
City flung everything at the visitors goal but nothing was forthcoming
In the dying seconds City had half a chance but the finish from Silva went over the bar
As the disappointed City fans made their way home perhaps they did not notice the UFO in the sky above the Stadium to remind all that the X Files had restarted !!!Pity Clattenburg wasn't 'taken'!
team
Hart 6.5:Zabaleta 7, Kompany 8, Otamendi 7.5, Clichy 7 (Kolarov) . Fernando 6 (Iheanacho 7.5) , Fernandinho 6.5 Toure 7. Silva 6.5, Sterling 6.5, Aguero 6
