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Hello, Welcome to our live coverage of the Premier League cracker between Manchester City and Tottenham. I'll be your host for the evening as Pep Guardiola seeks a response from his faltering City side against a familiar rival in Antonio Conte
Manchester City make five changes to the side that started the 2-1 derby defeat by United. Julian Alvaraez makes only his second start in the Premier League for City. He’s in along with Rico Lewis, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan and Jack Grealish.
Tottenham Hotspur are also coming off the back of a derby loss, having been well beaten 2-0 by Arsenal. Ivan Perisic, Rodrigo Bentancur, Ben Davies and Emerson Royal are back in the side for this one.
• Fans of Spurs and league leaders Arsenal will understandably be disappointed, for their own differing reasons, but that was a lot of fun. If this is anything to go by, the second half of the season could be quite the ride.
• FULL TIME: Manchester City 4-2 Tottenham Hotspur City aren’t booed off the pitch this time! A huge roar greets the final whistle. What a second-half turnaround! Can this fixture be played every week?
• GOAL! Manchester City 4-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Mahrez 90) It’s all over! Ederson launches long. Lenglet miscontrols, 30 yards out. Mahrez latches onto the loose ball, reaches the edge of the Spurs box, draws Lloris, and dinks home to secure a sensational comeback win for the champions of England!
• Haaland nearly bursts clear down the middle but can’t power his way past Romero, who stands firm and refuses to concede the space required for a shot. Haaland falls over instead, and half-heartedly claims for a penalty. City are certainly not getting this one.
• A double change for Spurs, as Davies and Emerson make way for Lenglet and Richarlison.
• Spurs look utterly shell-shocked. On the touchline, Antonio Conte quietly rages.
• Lloris should have saved that. There was a slight deflection on Mahrez’s shot, off Davies, but even so, it shouldn’t have slipped through such a small gap at his near post
• GOAL! Manchester City 3-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Mahrez 63) Rodri passes towards Mahrez on the right wing. Perisic should intercept, but he misses the ball altogether. Mahrez romps into the box, drops a shoulder to get past Davies, and sends a screamer past Lloris at his near post! What a turnaround! That’s why they’re champions.
• GOAL! Manchester City 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Haaland 53) City may concede goals in batches. They also score them in batches too! Mahrez slips a pass infield from the right for Rodri, who shovels it down the channel. Mahrez has kept running, and wins a header on the right-hand edge of the six-yard box. He sends the ball across to Haaland, who can’t miss with a header from close range! What a game this is! What a comeback!
• GOAL! Manchester City 1-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Alvarez 51) City haven’t exactly flown out of the blocks at the start of the second half. So Lewis takes things into his own hands, moving through the gears down the right. Having picked up City’s pace, the hosts strike. Mahrez drops a shoulder to skate past Perisic down the right and stands one up. Lloris can’t clear. Gundogan can’t get a header goalwards. The ball drops to Alvarez, who sweeps home from eight yards. The comeback’s on!
• It doesn't matter how bad things are for Tottenham, they seem to always rise to the occasion when they face Man City.
• City get the second half underway. Somewhat surprisingly, there have been no changes. How long until Kevin De Bruyne is sent on?
• It's not that City have been bad, they just haven't been good. There seems to be a bit of confusion about who should be where and Haaland is looking frustrated out there.
• HALF TIME: Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur The reigning champions are booed off! Tough crowd.
• Arsenal fans are loving and hating this at the same time.
• GOAL! Manchester City 0-2 Tottenham Hotspur (Emerson 45+2) Kane nearly bursts clear down the middle but can’t get past Akanji. The ball pings off to the right flank. Kane block tackles Rodri near the byline and gets up. He hits a fierce cross-cum-shot that Ederson can only parry at his near post. The ball pings up to Emerson, who places a header into the net from close range! Wow!
• GOAL! Manchester City 0-1 Tottenham Hotspur (Kulusevski 44) Disaster for Ederson! His careless pass out from the back towards Rodri puts his team-mate under all sorts of pressure. Rodri pokes the ball to his right, with Bentancur lurking. It rolls straight to Kulusevski, who takes a touch before dispatching a low drive across the clumsy keeper and into the bottom left! Spurs lead! Great news for Arsenal!
• City nearly open the scoring, Lewis tries his luck from distance and his low drive nearly finds its way into the bottom right. Lloris gets down well to block with a strong hand.
• Kane crosses from the right. Son rises but can’t guide a header goalwards. Stones gets in the road and the ball deflects out for a goal kick. There’s an enjoyable intensity to this.
• Interesting observation about Man City here. They have certainly looked out of it in recent weeks. Bored of winning perhaps?
• Spurs launch an immediate counter through Kulusevski, who is in flight down the right when he’s brought down by Mahrez. The City winger goes into the book.
• Looks like Emerson Royal is not too popular among the Spurs fans.
• Mahrez belts the free kick straight into the Spurs wall. A massive disappointment for the home fans, who groan accordingly.
• Rodri tries to release Mahrez down the right but is clattered mid-pass by Davies. The referee gets his yellow card out, but decides against booking the Spurs defender. It’s a free kick, though, 25 yards out, just to the right of centre.
• Erling Haaland has been on a bit of a goal drought recently. Looks like he's been trying his hands out at other stuff
• Spurs have enjoyed 58 percent possession during these early exchanges, outplaying City. Conte will be pleased with his team’s start.
• Interesting stat here about Antonio Conte and Pep Guardiola. Could he win again tonight?
• Kick off!!! Spurs who are looking to become the first team to win three matches in a row against a Pep Guardiola side get the ball rolling. They pass it around the back for a bit, then Son and Perisic nearly make some ground down the left with a crisp one-two. Throw to City, but some very early proactive play from Spurs.
Some pre-match positivity from Tottenham fans who certainly can't stand the thought of Arsenal winning the league.
The teams are out. City wear their sky blue, while Spurs sport lily white. The visitors also wear black armbands in memory of their former player Anton Walkes, who passed away after a boating accident this week.
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