Tottenham 1, Manchester City 0
Manchester City made it four consecutive games without scoring at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium after Son Heung-Min’s goal proved to be enough to beat the misfiring Champions.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe result meant that Jack Grealish, who started today, tasted defeat yet again in a City shirt as Spurs nicked the points after City had dominated without converting chances into goals.
It was also the fifth defeat for City at Spurs under Guardiola as City became only the third defending Premier League champions to start the next campaign with a defeat after Leicester City (2016-17) and Chelsea (2017-18).
The absence of Harry Kane was felt by both sides with shots on target a premium despite a multitude of attempts by both sides in a game with both sides tiring towards the end – and if City intend to retain the title they have to do a lot better with or without the England captain as they had done enough to convert at least two of their chances on the day.
City boss Pep Guardiola conceded that City were still having problems in front of goal but said there was still plenty of time to address them.
He said: “We started really well but we had a problem with transitions, we were not good enough and we conceded.
“In general you see the stats the intention to create chances was more but we were not clinical enough and we lost the game.
“We lost the ball and they got behind us. We could not do the simple things a little bit better.
“Sometimes we lost the second ball but in general the stats were exceptional.
“I had the feeling we were good but we could not get the result.
“There’s a long season ahead of us, we need to get more players back and correct a few small things.”
There was cause for concern for Ilkay Gundogan who seemed to be injured at the end of the game, and Guardiola added:
“It looks like the shoulder but I didn’t speak to the doctor.”
Grealish made his full debut for Manchester City at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with Kane missing from the Spurs squad after returning late from his holiday after Euro 2020 and isolating.
City retained the same back four that started the Community Shield last weekend, but named Ederson in goal for Zack Steffen, Grealish started in midfield in place of Cole Palmer, while Sam Edozie stepped aside for Raheem Sterling.
Kevin De Bruyne was fit enough for the bench but Phil Foden remained unavailable due to a foot injury but City could afford to start their new signing to a chorus of boos from the home side after his high profile move from Aston Villa.
There was a an early foul that brought Grealish down just outside the area under a challenge from Oliver Skipp but Ilkay Gundogan’s subsequent free kick came off the Spurs midfielder.
The pressure was unrelenting and Fernandinho’s header went wide of the empty net while Joao Cancelo was also wayward.
But City’s early dominance didn’t last as the home side started to work their way back into the game as their intensity dropped and Spurs took the sting out of the game against a City side that still looked short of full match fitness.
Steven Bergwijn’s shot was deflected after Spurs started to pressurise Benjamin Mendy’s side while Lucas Moura brought a goal line block out of Gundogan.
Riyad Mahrez shot wide while Son’s shot was deflected for a corner as Spurs started to look threatening on the break.
Pierre-Emile Højbjerg’s shot was blocked by Ruben Dias while Moura sent another shot wide as Spurs struggled to find incisiveness in front of goal, just like their visitors.
They got their break after 54 minutes on the counter attack when Bergwijn found Son on the right, the South Korean cut inside Nathan Ake and thrashed a shot inside the far post from outside the area to beat Ederson who was unsighted by Dias.
It was the seventh goal for Son against City and Spurs were still trying to catch City out with quick balls up to Bergwijn, who rippled the side netting, and Son.
Raheem Sterling was replaced in City’s first change with Gabriel Jesus getting 20 minutes to make a change.
And Oleksandr Zinchenko and De Bruyne came on with 12 minutes to go in an attempt to rescue something from the game, with Mahrez and Benjamin Mendy making way.
City switched to a front three of Grealish, Jesus, and Torres for the final minutes.
De Bruyne saw a late shot palmed away by Lloris while Torres could not beat the French custodian and City could not raise their game sufficiently to grab an equaliser as Nuno Espirito Santo won his first competitive game in charge of Spurs with the Portuguese picking up his third Premier League win over Pep Guardiola.
GOALS – Tottenham 1, Manchester City 0
Tottenham 1, Man City 2: 55. Son Heung-Min rattled in the opening goal from outside the area after coming inside around Nathan Ake and firing past Ederson who was unsighted by Ruben Dias.
MATCH STATS – Tottenham 1, Manchester City 0
Tottenham: Lloris, Tanganga (Doherty 83), Sanchez, Dier, Reguilon, Hojbjerg (Romero 90), Skipp, Moura, Alli, Bergwijn (Lo Celso 77), Son
Tottenham subs not used: Gollini, Winks, Gil, Sissoko, Davies, Scarlett
Booking: Moura 66 (foul on Jack Grealish); Sanchez 90+1 (unsporting conduct)
Man City: Ederson, Cancelo, Dias, Ake, Mendy (Zinchenko 78), Gundogan, Fernandinho, Grealish, Mahrez (De Bruyne 78), Torres, Sterling (Jesus 70)
Man City subs not used: Steffen, Walker, Stones, Laporte, Rodri, Bernardo Silva
Booking: Grealish 90+1 (unsporting conduct)
Referee: Anthony Taylor