Manchester City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur: 5 Talking Points | Premier League 2019-20
Manchester City hosted Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium as the match lived up to all its hype with VAR yet again denying the hosts a decider as the scoreline read 2-2 at the end of the final whistle.
Tottenham finished the game with an unlikely point as VAR ruled out Gabriel Jesus' late goal after Manchester City started on the front foot as always, with the same lineup that won at West Ham, barring the presence of Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan.
Tottenham Hotspur were handed an early blow by the Kevin de Bruyne-Raheem Sterling combination as a cross from de Bruyne was met by a fantastic header from the Englishman.
Against the run of play, however, a direct pass from Tanguy Ndombele to Erik Lamela opened up the opportunity for Spurs to equalize. Lamela fired a shot from distance as Ederson, who was out of position, was beaten.
City restored their lead again through Kevin de Bruyne's involvement, as this time it was Sergio Aguero who was the target in the middle who slotted in a low cross to the back of the net.
Despite creating numerous opportunities towards the start of the second half, City lost their lead again, this time through the first touch from Lucas Moura, who won a header that went past Ederson's dive towards the right corner.
Gabriel Jesus scored a late goal for Manchester City which seemingly secured all three points for the Blues from Manchester, but their Achilles heel, VAR, returned to haunt them and cancel out their goal which was ruled out by a possible handball by Aymeric Laporte in the sequence before the potential winner was scored.
Here are five talking points from the game.
#5 Tottenham survive the City juggernaut, only barely
Tottenham never got it going. The starting lineup seemed strange as there was no pace on the break with Lucas Moura finding himself on the bench. Manchester City made quick incisions through the lines of Tottenham's defense and quickly took a lead.
Erik Lamela's strike to equalise was purely a gift from Ederson to the Spurs. Despite various calls by Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen to play the long ball, the players defending deep in their half were smothered by the overwhelming work-rate of the Cityzens.
The header by Lucas Moura was yet another gift. No player contested Lucas Moura for the header, as he put it past Ederson, who himself could've done better to stop the ball from crashing into the net.
The plan from Pochettino was surely to absorb the pressure, which they didn't succeed in doing, and this is was an unlikely point handed to them by City's own mistakes.
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