Yesterday at the Etihad Stadium, Manchester City and Tottenham Hotspurs resumed their match corresponding to the seventh round of the Premier League; an important match for the citizens who, after the controversial defeat against Manchester United, were obliged to win; the same happens to Antonio Conte's team that is increasingly moving away from the top four positions in the standings and remember that like City, the Hotspurs lost the North London Derby.
Both Guardiola's team and Conte's team should make changes in their starting teams after playing demanding games last matchday; a clear example was Pep's decision to form a highly offensive team because in the two previous games for both the Carabao Cup and the Manchester Derby the team had more than 100 minutes without shots on goal, that is why Mahrez, Julian Alvarez, Grealish and Erling Haaland would be in charge of the attack of the citizens. On the part of Conte's team, which in my opinion has a short team, one that does not allow him to make deep changes, he should look for a better performance with respect to that 3-4-2-1 scheme, which I think the serious problem is in the wingers and that line of three defenders.
This game is divided into 45 minutes for each club where ManCity was more convincing than the visiting team. The citizens after continuing to play poorly, saw Tottenham who with very little reached the box twice before the end of the first half and got two goals; Kulusevski and Emerson were the scorers where the pressure and counterattack was enough to bring down the goal defended by Ederson; that result predicted another defeat for Pep's team which was celebrated not only by the Hotspur fans, but also by Arsenal and Manchester United fans; but without making changes and ordering the team even more, ManCity ordered their attacking lines and that was enough to break Conte's team that with every goal they conceded was collapsing.
Mahrez was undoubtedly the most valuable player, two goals and an assist, although I can also say that he originated the play for the first goal scored by Julian Alvarez; the Algerian in his constant attack on the right side of the pitch shows Tottenham's defensive problem where their left back and stopper are not reliable, no matter who plays in that area because as it was evident in the game against Arsenal, Saka was fundamental in the Gunner attack and yesterday it was Mahrez who in 45 minutes wreaked havoc to Antonio Conte's team. We will have to wait and see how fruitful this Man City comeback is, as they are now only five points behind the Premier League leader with two games left to play against Arteta's team and knowing that this Saturday they face Arsenal vs. Manchester United, so if Man City defeats Wolverhampton Wanderers FC this weekend, we may have more excitement.
Cover image edited in canva; the image was taken from the following source
