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How Tottenham handed Pep Guardiola his first defeat as Manchester City manager

Dele Alli scores Tottenham's second goal of the game
Image: Dele Alli scores Tottenham's second goal of the game

Manchester City crashed to their first defeat of the Pep Guardiola era on Sunday. Peter Smith looks at how Tottenham did it...

Tottenham handed Pep Guardiola his first Premier League defeat with a 2-0 win over Manchester City at White Hart Lane on Sunday.

The win lifts Spurs up to second in the table, just one point behind City, and means the north London club have made their best-ever start to a league campaign.

An Aleksandar Kolarov own goal and Dele Alli strike in the first half did the damage, and Spurs could even afford a missed penalty from Erik Lamela.

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Tottenham 2-0 Man City

It's the first league game Guardiola has lost away from home since last December, and ends City's 11-game unbeaten start under the Spaniard.

So how did Spurs do it? We take a look…

Put the pressure on

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Guardiola is famed for his intensive, high-pressing style, but Mauricio Pochettino's men gave the City boss a taste of his own medicine at White Hart Lane. Spurs were tireless. They covered 118.8km to City's 114.8km and outsprinted their visitors with 647 bursts to 609.

Spurs out-run City

Tottenham's players covered 118.82km and made 647 sprints. Man City's players covered 114.78km and made 609 sprints.

That equated to City's players being rushed in possession, robbed high up the field and Spurs winning back the ball in dangerous areas. "Their effort was fantastic," Pochettino said of his team after the game. "There's no denying [City] are a brilliant football side but we knew if we got in their faces and kept working hard we'd create chances," added Dele Alli.

When City play with Fernando and Fernandinho you expect them to be really tight, really compact - they haven't been. They've been so open. The amount of times Spurs have pick-pocketed them and got at their back four.
Jamie Redknapp

It's a method Pochettino has used to his advantage before against Guardiola. While at Espanyol, the Argentine enjoyed a famous victory at the Nou Camp by getting on the front foot against Barcelona. 

But it wasn't just with Spurs' running that they put the pressure on. They also adopted bold positioning at set-pieces. Jamie Carragher noted in the Sky Sports studio how Tottenham prevented City playing short passes from goal-kicks.

Tottenham went man-to-man against Man City from goal-kicks to stop them passing out from the back
Image: Tottenham went man-to-man against Man City from goal-kicks to stop them passing out from the back

"They virtually go man-to-man from goal kicks, and say 'you're not passing it'," explained Carragher. "'I'm going to stop my man playing' and that's forced Man City to go long. They've played a lot more long balls than they normally do today because of the pressure - and when they have gone short Spurs have taken it off them."

Manchester City's long passes

Player Long passes v Tottenham Average long passes/game
Claudio Bravo 22 16.3
Nicolas Otamendi 12 7.9
Aleksandar Kolarov 15 11.2

The stats highlight Carragher's point - goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, and defenders Nicolas Otamendi and Kolarov all played far more long passes than usual - while City's passing accuracy (78.63 per cent) was way down on their seasonal average (84.9 per cent).

Manchester City passing accuracy in the Premier League this season

Matchday Opponent Passing accuracy %
1 Sunderland 85.9%
2 Stoke 80.73%
3 West Ham 86.54%
4 Man Utd 81.96%
5 Bournemouth 89%
6 Swansea 85.16%
7 Tottenham 78.63%

Pounced in attack

Tottenham were handed an early boost when Kolarov miscued a clearance into his own net just nine minutes in but doubled their lead just before the break with some neat interplay on the edge of the City box after winning the ball back in midfield.

Dele Alli scores for Tottenham
Image: Dele Alli scores for Tottenham

Once again Kolarov was at fault, giving up possession in the centre circle, but the speed with which Spurs broke left City's backline disjointed and in-form Heung-Min Son slotted a smart reverse pass through to Alli to finish.

The Korean has now been involved in eight goals in his last seven Premier League appearances - six goals and two assists - and continued to offer Spurs options when they picked up the ball in the final third.

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Spurs manager Mauricio Pochettino says he's very happy with the way his side played against Man City

The only fault was when Lamela had his penalty saved by Bravo after Son had wrestled with the Argentina international for spot-kick duties. Pochettino later dismissed the incident as "no big issue" and will doubtless prefer to reflect on the positive contributions both players made.

When Harry Kane went off injured against Sunderland, there were serious questions asked as to whether Tottenham could cope without their main striker. But they've responded with four goals in two Premier League games, and topped City for shots on goal on Sunday (13, 7 on target v 12, 6 on target).

Faultless at the back

Manchester City are the joint-top scorers in the Premier League so a stubborn defensive display from the hosts was essential for victory. Spurs delivered just that, with goalkeeper Hugo Lloris pulling off six saves in all, including key late blocks from Kelechi Iheanacho and Sergio Aguero.

Toby Alderweireld celebrates the 2-0 victory over Manchester City at White Hart Lane
Image: Toby Alderweireld celebrates the 2-0 victory over Manchester City at White Hart Lane

In front of him, Danny Rose - locked in a physical battle with Raheem Sterling and Pablo Zabaleta all afternoon - weighed in, like Kyle Walker and Victor Wanyama, with a combined total of seven tackles and interceptions.   

In central defence, Toby Alderweireld was imperious with 14 clearances. Combined with Jan Vertonghen, Tottenham's centre-backs made more clearances (24) than the entire Man City team put together.  

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Man City boss Pep Guardiola admitted that Tottenham were much better than his side at White Hart Lane.

But it was Wanyama, sitting in front of the Spurs backline, who really stood out. "He set the tone right through the 90 minutes, he's picked up every single loose pass," Gary Neville said, as he awarded the Kenyan the man of the match prize.

With Eric Dier starting on the bench after returning from injury, summer signing Wanyama could be a key option for Spurs in the centre of the pitch this season. 

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