Sports

Tottenham vs Man City: Bergwijn & Son keep 10-man City 22 pts behind Liverpool

Published

5 years ago

February 2, 2020

Tottenham celebrate a miraculous victory! They were easily second best for most of the game but dug in and successfully punished City’s profligacy.

City should have blown Spurs out of sight in the first half but didn’t, and Spurs made them pay through great second-half goals by Bergwijn and Son. Zinchenko’s dismissal made it a bad day all round for City.

Ilkay Gundogan missed a penalty and Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off as Manchester City had a torrid afternoon at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Steven Bergwijn scored a superb volley on his debut as Tottenham earned a 2-0 victory over Manchester City, who dominated possession but missed a penalty and had Oleksandr Zinchenko sent off.

Pep Guardiola’s men were perhaps guilty of overplaying in front of goal across the course of a game that exploded into life when Hugo Lloris saved an Ilkay Gundogan spot-kick in a frenetic climax a tense first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The champions remained on top until Zinchenko received a second booking and his marching orders, leaving Spurs to capitalise on their man advantage almost immediately with Bergwijn’s memorable strike after 63 minutes

Son Heung-Min’s seventh top-flight goal of the season left City with too much to do in the final 20 minutes and they suffered a first defeat in six league outings that all but extinguishes their already faint title hopes with Liverpool 22 points clear at the top of the table.

Kevin De Bruyne and Sergio Aguero missed early chances in the Spurs box and Raheem Sterling escaped with just a yellow card after a dangerous challenge that almost buckled Dele Alli’s ankle.

Riyad Mahrez turned his back on a shooting chance when he mistakenly thought he had been flagged offside but moments later his threaded pass sent Aguero through for a shot against the foot of the post as Spurs came under fire.

The half ended in chaos, with a belated VAR review overturning referee Mike Dean’s decision not to award Aguero a penalty following a clumsy challenge by Serge Aurier.

After Gundogan’s spot-kick was saved by Lloris, there was an angry melee as Tottenham’s players fumed over Sterling’s attempt to win another penalty when he tumbled over the goalkeeper’s arms, with Toby Alderweireld and Zinchenko booked for their contributions.

A mix-up between Lloris and Japhet Tanganga allowed Aguero to loop a shot towards goal that was cleared as far as Sterling and he squared to Gundogan, who blazed over the crossbar with the net gaping.

Zinchenko was shown a second yellow card for barging Harry Winks as the Spurs midfielder broke towards the half-way line and shortly after the hosts were ahead.

Lucas Moura chipped the ball to the edge of the box where Bergwijn controlled it with his chest and volleyed into the bottom-right corner of the net with exquisite technique.

Eight minutes later, Tanguy Ndombele carved an opening for Son, whose deflected shot from just inside the box beat Ederson at his near post to double Tottenham’s lead and the closest City came to pulling one back was a Davinson Sanchez header against his own crossbar at the death.