Thriller at the Etihad as City and Spurs draw

A thrilling encounter at the Etihad saw defending champions Manchester City fall behind early on before being begged back twice to share a six-goal draw with their ‘bogey’ side, Tottenham Hotspur. 

LINEUPS

CITY XI: Ederson; Walker*, Dias, Gvardiol; Rodri, Akanji; Foden, Alvarez, Silva, Doku; Haaland

CITY SUBS: Ortega, Stones, Ake, Lewis, Gomez, Phillips, Kovacic, Grealish, Bobb

SPURS XI: Vicario; Porro, Royal, Davies, Udogie; Bissouma, Lo Celso; Johnson, Kulusevski, Gil; Son*

SPURS SUBS: Austin, Forster, Dorrington, Hojbjerg, Skipp, Santiago, Richarlison, Veliz, Donley

Action: As expected, it was a frantic and frenzied, fast paced start to a thrilling match-up at the Etihad Stadium with two goals in the opening ten minutes of the game.

Manchester City began on the front foot but it was a swift counter attack from the visitors that gave them the opening goal in the sixth minute.

Tidy footwork from Bryan Gil released Dejan Kulusevski in his own half. The Swede drove a ball out wide to Son Heung-min, who eased his was past Jeremy Doku and sprinted into the box before releasing an effort that went through Ederson in the City goal.

That lead lasted less than four minutes, though, before the defending champions were back on level terms via an own goal by the same man. Julian Alvarez swept the ball into the box and Son failed to react to a slight glance by Yves Bissouma so the Korean diverted the ball into his own net off his thigh.

City then continued to keep the pressure high, forcing Emerson Royal into a mistake. Bernardo Silva crossed to Erling Braut Haaland but the Norwegian skewed his shot wide with the goal gaping for him.

Another swift City attack allowed Jeremy Doku to run at Ben Davies one-on-one but the Belgian winger could only nail the joint off the post and the cross-bar with his excellent, bending effort.

City did eventually take the lead, though, mid-way through the half with Doku at the heart of it. He fed the ball through to Julian Alvarez and the Argentine performed a smart turn to set up Phil Foden to poke home.

City continued to knock on the door to try and double their one-goal advantage but both Haaland, again, and Rodri had poor efforts before Julian Alvarez struck the post with a strong effort from the edge of the box.

The second-half saw City become a little lazy and complacent, failing to put the game to bed and allowing Tottenham to bring themselves into the match, which they did via Giovani Lo Celso. The Argentinian drove towards the edge of the box and curled an effort into the bottom corner in off the post.

Lo Celso went close again, driving into the side-netting and Manchester City’s fairly lacklustre second-half was becoming potentially very damaging before they went ahead again with around ten minutes of normal time to go.

Rico Lewis won the ball back around 30 yards from goal and sent Erling Haaland down the right-hand side before cutting back across for Jack Grealish to slide the ball home for a 3-2 lead.

Jack Grealish with a late goal for Man City to take the lead! 💥 pic.twitter.com/81iFcNQBfx

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) December 3, 2023

However, there was a sting in the tail when Spurs got back level through Dejan Kulusevski. A sweeping move down the left saw Brennan Johnson stand up a ball for Kulusevski to throw himself at and head in off the woodwork.

There was more drama to be had, though, when referee Simon Hooper appeared to play advantage for Haaland to chip a ball through for the on-rushing Jack Grealish, who was onside, but with the ball in mid-air, he blew up for a foul on Haaland prior to the pass without realising or waiting to see where that pass was landing. The fury led to a few aggressive discussions between staff and players at the end of the game but, in the end, a thrilling encounter had to finish with the spoils shared.

The big picture: Manchester City are on 30 points and have now dropped points in more than a third of their 14 Premier League games so far this season. They are a point behind Liverpool and three behind league leaders, Arsenal. Tottenham are six behind their north London rivals at the top-of-the-table but have maintained a two-point gap behind Aston Villa in the top four. 

Man of the match: Giovani Lo Celso. At a ground and against an opposition that can and do overwhelm entire midfields, Spurs’ injury-ravaged squad was benefitted by an excellent performance from Argentina international, Giovani Lo Celso. 

EVENTS

Kick-off

‘6 | GOAL: Son (0-1)
‘9 | GOAL: Son [og] (1-1)
’31 | GOAL: Foden (2-1)

Half-time

’69 | GOAL: Lo Celso (2-2)
’81 | GOAL: Grealish (3-2)
’90 | GOAL: Kulusevski (3-3)

Full-time