The 18-year-old England youngster, Phil Foden made Manchester City return to the top of the Premier League when they won a 1-0 victory against Tottenham Hotspur at Etihad on Saturday (04/20/19). Phil Foden scored the only valuable goal in the 5th minute after receiving a header from Sergio Aguero. This goal is also his first goal in the Premier League for this young player.
According to Premierleague.com (4/21/19), the game has been running for 5 minutes when Bernardo Silva’s movement from the left side of the Spurs defense gave a gastric pass to Sergio Aguero in the penalty area. The ball headed by Aguero was directed to the free-standing Foden heading the ball at the far post into the Spurs goal which was escorted by Paulo Gazzaniga.
This goal seemed to awaken the squad from London. They threatened the City goalkeeper Ederson several times. In the first 45 minutes at least Ederson managed to save two opportunities from Spurs players, Son Heung Min.
The second half, City still mastered the game to mastery 60 percent of the ball. City’s best opportunity was obtained by Raheem Sterling but was pushed over from close range by Paulo Gazzaniga, the Spurs goalkeeper who replaced Hugo Lloris.
Meanwhile Ederson also had to focus on saving his goal from the Spurs’ quick counterattack, one of which was Lucas Moura’s kick which almost equalized.
After the match Pep Guardiola admitted that this match was very difficult for his squad. Considering they just experienced a down feeling when the Spurs managed to get rid of City in the Champions League quarter-final three days ago. The failure that night made the mental players need serious improvement.
“It was a very difficult match after Wednesday’s mental defeat. The last two days were very difficult for us. They qualified for the Champions League and could not lose anything today. We could lose the Premier League. Matches like this after Wednesday are right – it’s really difficult. I can’t do what the players do. Ederson saved our game. It’s three more points and still in our hands. ” Thus said Pep Guardiola to Mancity.com (4/21/19).
Therefore for Pep Guardiola, this one-goal victory was very meaningful and made him relieved. With this victory his squad has returned to the right path to the top of the Premier League.
Premierleague.com (4/21/19) noted that this victory over Spurs was the 10th league win in a row. At present City also return to the top of the table with 86 points, one point ahead of Liverpool in the 34 matches they have played. While Liverpool travel to Cardiff City on Sunday (21/4/19) to play the 35th match.
Competition between the two clubs this week continues. They both left 4 games until the competition ended. City still have to face a tight derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday (25/4/19) at 02.00. For City this fight is an important key to winning this competition. Only with their victory would they have the chance to secure the road to the championship ladder
