Dominant City Can't Find The Net

Manchester City dropped more points over the weekend as they fell to a 2-0 defeat away at Tottenham Hotspur in a game where the blues couldn’t put the ball in the net. 

Coming into the game Manchester City were 22 points adrift of league leaders Liverpool after their 4-0 win at home to Southampton. 

It was also the first time that long-time rivals Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho had faced off since the Portuguese manager replace Mauricio     Pochettino at Spurs.  

City started the game with intent and controlled possession throughout the game. 

The first big talking point of the game came in the 12th minute when Raheem Sterling made a challenge on Dele Alli and won the ball but his follow-through caught Alli. Mike Dean deemed the challenge worthy of a yellow card and this was backed up by VAR although many thought it could’ve been a red. 

Sergio Aguero looked sharp during the game and his first big chance came when Davidson Sanchez gifted the ball to Riyad Mahrez who played in the Argentine but his effort was tipped onto the post by the foot of Hugo Lloris. 

In the 36th minute, Aguero was fouled by Serge Aurier in the box which Mike Dean said was a fair challenge. But after two minutes play was brought back and a penalty was given by VAR. Ilkay Gundogan stepped up but his penalty was saved by Lloris only for Sterling to get to the rebound before the goalkeeper and he went down under the challenge. VAR said it wasn’t a penalty and Sterling can count himself lucky he wasn’t given a second yellow card for simulation. In the frenzy that followed Oleksandr Zinchenko and Toby Alderweireld were each booked for their parts. 

Just before half-time City had another golden chance as Sterling pulled the ball back to Aguero on the edge of the six-yard box and his initial effort was blocked but the ball fell for him again with an open goal but he scuffed it wide.

Both teams went in level at 0-0 and it looked to be another frustrating day for City in front of goal. 

In the second-half City should’ve scored again as a mix up at the back saw Lloris and Japhet Tanganga collide leaving an open goal with Aguero shooting but that was blocked on the line. Then the ball dropped to Sterling who instead of shooting fired a pass across the box to Gundogan but he could only stretch for the ball and send it over. 

The game turned on the 60th minute when an awful corner from Mahrez was picked off by Harry Winks who launched a counter-attack and Zinchenko brought him down leading to his second-yellow and Manchester City were down to 10-men. 

Then in the 63rd minute Spurs were in front as Steven Bergwijn chested the ball and volleyed it into the corner to score on his debut and leave City questioning how they were 1-0 down. 

In the 71st minute, Tottenham had their second shot of the game and it was 2-0. Ndombele played the ball to Son Heung-Min who had an effort which deflected off of Fernandinho and past Ederson at the near post. 

Just before the game ended it was time for some more City chances with Bernardo Silva beating Lloris but his effort was headed off the line and Kevin De Bruyne tried to catch Lloris out with a curling effort but he tipped the ball over. 

Another game where City dominated but they failed to take any of their chances which is a story of their season so far. City stay second after the defeat with Spurs moving up to 5th.