Lady Luck smiles on Tottenham in draw at Manchester City
REUTERS - Second-placed Tottenham Hotspur rode their luck to battle back and earn an unlikely 2-2 Premier League draw at Manchester City on Saturday after mistakes by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris had left them two goals down.
France keeper Lloris was guilty of two howlers as Leroy Sane and Kevin de Bruyne scored early in the second half to reward a vibrant City who had completely dominated before halftime against a rattled Tottenham.
After Dele Alli gave Tottenham a lifeline with his eighth goal in his last six league games the visitors enjoyed a massive slice of fortune when referee Andre Marriner missed Kyle Walker's clear shove in the back on Raheem Sterling as he raced into the penalty area to shoot.
City manager Pep Guardiola was incensed, charging down the touchline, and his anger was understandable as not only were his side denied a penalty but Walker could have been sent off.
Seconds later Guardiola was beating his hands into the turf as Tottenham broke and Harry Kane's clever flick gave substitute Son Heung-min the space to sweep a shot past Claudio Bravo to put the visitors level in the 77th minute.
City's incredulity only increased when debutant Gabriel Jesus, on as a substitute in a pulsating climax, netted at the far post but had his celebrations halted by an offside flag.
Tottenham cut Chelsea's lead to six points ahead of the leaders' home match with Hull City on Sunday. City remained in fifth spot, nine points behind.
Guardiola was reluctant to dwell on the penalty incident, preferring to bemoan his side's lack of clinical finishing.
"We played really good, we missed lots of chances," he said. "We create too much and get nothing.
"If you score your chances the referee doesn't matter."
"Of course, I'm sad and upset because the players don't deserve that but maybe in the future these kinds of things will make us stronger."
Tottenham arrived on a six-match winning run in the league while City were smarting from last week's 4-0 drubbing at Everton -- a result that left them outside the top four.
However, City outplayed their visitors in the first period. Lloris made one brilliant low save to deny David Silva while Sergio Aguero and Pablo Zabaleta went close.
Tottenham's goal led a charmed life as City swarmed forward and somehow Mauricio Pochettino's side reached the interval at 0-0.
Frenchman Lloris made his first blunder when he came out to meet De Bruyne's through ball in the 49th minute but completely missed an attempted headed clearance and Sane tapped in.
Minutes later Lloris spilled Raheem Sterling's low cross to De Bruyne who doubled the lead.
Alli halved the deficit with a header from Walker's cross but City were still in the ascendancy.
The game then took its pivotal swing to allow Tottenham what Pochettino described as a "massive" point.
"It is true, they were better in the first half and maybe deserved more, it was lucky for us to be 0-0 but in the second half the game was more balanced," he said.
"We conceded two and it was difficult to come back but they always believed, that is important.
"It's a massive point for us. City were better but football is sometimes about belief."
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Ed Osmond)