Premier League 2018/19: 3 reasons why Tottenham Hotspur lost to Manchester City
After the insanity of Wednesday night’s Champions League tie between the two sides, this afternoon’s Premier League match between Manchester City and Tottenham was always going to be somewhat of a comedown, and indeed, the match had nowhere near the amount of drama as the one earlier in the week.
Phil Foden’s 4th minute goal – his first in the Premier League – was enough to seal the game for City, who ran out 1-0 victors, but Spurs certainly had their chances and for a while it looked like Mauricio Pochettino’s men might do enough to steal a point.
But they couldn’t find the back of the net, and City ended up taking another step towards their second Premier League title in a row.
For Tottenham, the result was a painful one as it has allowed top 4 rivals Arsenal and Chelsea to close the gap on them, but Spurs fans will probably be confident of claiming at least 4th, given their remaining games come against Brighton, West Ham, Bournemouth and Everton.
Here are 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to Manchester City.
#1 Ederson's fantastic game
City’s goalkeeper Ederson came under some fire from a handful of critics midweek after the way he let in Heung-min Son’s first goal, but nobody would be able to criticise his performance this afternoon.
Simply put, the Brazilian had a genuinely fantastic game and while Bernardo Silva was rightly awarded Man of the Match, it was Ederson who arguably kept City alive with some amazing close-range saves throughout the game.
On numerous occasions, City’s central defensive partnership of John Stones and Aymeric Laporte parted like the Red Sea when Tottenham fired balls down the middle towards their attacking duo of Son and Lucas Moura, but despite both men having more than one one-on-one chance, Ederson was always able to stop them from scoring.
These weren’t run-of-the-mill saves either, although Ederson made them look that way. Lesser goalkeepers probably would’ve stood off Son and Lucas as they came forward, but Ederson seemed one step ahead throughout – as soon as either man had a sight of goal, the Brazilian was on them, closing the angle down and making it almost impossible to score.
More plaudits tend to be handed to Alisson Becker and David de Gea, but for me Ederson might be the best goalkeeper in the Premier League, and he definitely made his case with today’s performance.