The hunt for the Premier League title heated up after Manchester City unexpectedly lost 2-3 to Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium, Sunday (20/2).
This defeat did not change the position of Man City at the top of the standings. However, Pep Guardiola’s squad is now only six points ahead of Liverpool who still have one game more in savings.
Tottenham were able to take a quick lead over Man City when the game had only been running for four minutes. The visitors’ goals came through Dejan Kulusevski.
The goal stems from a quick counter-attack by Tottenham. Son Heung-min who escaped the offside trap passed the ball to Kulusevski who calmly found the Man City goal with a shot between the legs of Joao Cancelo.
Man City, who were surprised by the visitors’ goal, immediately took over the game. The ball continued to be in possession of Man City but Tottenham’s disciplined defense made it difficult to score an equaliser.
The Citizens’ efforts to score the new equalizer get result in the 33rd minute. The goal that made the score 1-1 was created by Ilkay Gundogan.
Tottenham, who played on the counter-attack, were able to regain the lead over Man City. Harry Kane put his name on the scoreboard after calmly breaking into Ederson’s goal after receiving Son’s measured pass in the 59th minute.
Tottenham can even lead 3-1 over Man City in this match in the 74th minute. However, Kane’s second goal was disallowed because there was already an offside player before the goal was created.
In the second half of injury time, Man City received a penalty because Cristian Romero was considered handball when blocking Bernardo Silva’s shot. Riyad Mahrez who advanced as executor managed to complete the task to make the score 2-2.
When the score was expected to end in a 2-2 draw, Tottenham could actually steal the win. Kulusevski’s cross was able to head home Kane in the penalty box to make the score 3-2 for the visitors to win.
The result against Tottenham makes Man City have a great chance of losing to Liverpool in the race for the Premier League title. Although Liverpool are six points behind Man City at the moment, the Reds have one game more.
One match that is a postponed match against Arsenal which will be held at the Emirates Stadium on March 16 next. If Liverpool can win against Arsenal, then Man City will only be three points clear.
This condition makes Liverpool a big chance to win the Premier League. Liverpool must win against Man City at the Etihad Stadium on April 9.
Thus Liverpool will become the Premier League champions with a goal difference advantage over Man City with the same points if the Reds win in all matches until the end of the season and The Citizens also win the remaining matches.
For Man City this is the first time since against Crystal Palace, last October 30, they lost in the Premier League. Guardiola also said Man City must win all remaining games this season also if want to win the Premier League title.
“I said a few weeks ago we have to win a lot of games. Every game will be big, a big fight. We already know that, and this result makes us know very well how difficult each game is,” Guardiola was quoted as saying by Man City’s official website.
