Manchester City moved top of the Premier League with a 5-1 thumping of Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Wednesday. What was already a difficult task turned into an impossible one for Spurs after Danny Rose was ejected early in the second half, with City certainly making the most of their extra man.
Tottenham Hotspur vs. Manchester City: Final score 1-5, Citizens thump 10-man Spurs
Manchester City put five past a ten-man Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday, moving top of the Premier League table.
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It looked like Spurs were heading for a long night right from the off, with Sergio Agüero ghosting past Vlad Chiricheș before smashing the ball against the post after just five minutes. His opener came 10 minutes later, as he made the most of David Silva’s excellent through ball by smartly finishing from a tight angle.
Kun completely ran the show in the opening exchanges, forcing a brilliant save from Hugo Lloris after 20 minutes before spectacularly lashing the ball just over the bar moments later. Chiricheș in particular struggled to keep the lively Argentine quiet, with his sudden acceleration and intelligent movement totally devastating.
However, as the half wore on the hosts began to look a little more comfortable in possession. Michael Dawson thought he'd equalised with ten minutes of the half remaining, though his volley on Christian Eriksen's free-kick was questionably -- and probably wrongly -- chalked off for offside.
It wasn’t all misery for the improving Spurs, who were given a great boost on the stroke of halftime, as the undoubted star of the match, Agüero, limped off holding his hamstring. Hope, maybe?
Alas not. Immediately from the restart the misery returned, and this time, it didn’t relent.
It took just over five minutes of the second half before City netted their second, with Yaya Touré stepping up to convert after Danny Rose had cut Edin Džeko down in the box and earned himself a red card. A third followed just a couple of minutes later, with Džeko himself capitalising on some penalty box pinball to slot home.
Spurs managed to just about keep the game alive as Étienne Capoue stabbed the ball in from a corner just short of the hour, though their resistance against an 11-man City was futile.
The Citizens managed to add a fourth with just over ten minutes to go, as Stevan Jovetić (remember him?!) popped up to break his duck -- in no small part thanks to a heavy deflection on his low shot.
There was enough time remaining for City to put the icing on the cake with a fifth, and captain Vincent Kompany duly obliged from a corner in the last few minutes. Poor, poor Spurs.
Tottenham Hotspur: Lloris; Rose, Chiricheș, Dawson, Walker; Dembélé (Capoue 46’), Bentaleb; Sigurðsson (Naughton 55’), Eriksen (Holtby 83’), Lennon; Adebayor.
Goals: Capoue (59’).
Red cards: Rose (50’).
Manchester City: Hart; Clichy, Demichelis, Kompany, Zabaleta; Silva (Kolarov 80’), Touré (Nastasić 64’), Fernandinho, Navas; Agüero (Jovetić 45’), Džeko.
Goals: Agüero (15’), Touré (pen 51’), Džeko (53’), Jovetić (78’), Kompany (89’).
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