James Maddison scored a first-half brace as opportunistic Tottenham Hotspur bamboozled Manchester City, sinking the reigning champions to a first home Premier League loss in over two years via a 4-0 decision at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
City last lost a league home match on Nov. 12, 2022, 2-1 to an Ivan Toney-led Brentford. That history matters less to Pep Guardiola than the club’s standing, as City could be eight points behind leaders Liverpool by the end of Week 12.
City’s 23 points are just one more than a trio of teams, while Spurs’ 19 points leap a host of teams into sixth.
Spurs produced the big win — and the clean sheet — despite no Micky van de Ven, Rodrigo Bentancur, and Cristian Romero. City’s missing big-time players, too, but their failure to find the goal is alarming given Tottenham’s absences as the Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies center back pairing helped
Clinical Spurs ruin City’s bounce back bid
Let’s get this out of the way — This wasn’t a four-nil game in the sense that City produced a host of chances and might have scored twice in the first 15 minutes. But an uneven Erling Haaland and pals couldn’t make the most of those chances, while James Maddison and Spurs scored both of theirs and that meant this slumping Man City side had more pressure on their shoulders. City came out of the traps in fine feather and showed the energy and resilience of champions. The one thing that could hurt that vibe was going down a goal. Two goals? Oh, the deficit seemed an anchor at times. City will improve with healthy — Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Nathan Ake, and Jack Grealish all weren’t fit enough for a full game as Mateo Kovacic, Jeremy Doku, and Ruben Dias joined Rodri on the shelf — but will they it together in time for Liverpool next weekend?
Spurs’ creativity craves consistency from Maddison
Dejan Kulusevski and James Maddison give Spurs a ridiculous creative streak in playmaking, and both men were at the top of their games on Saturday. Kulusevski has been more consistent than Maddison, but the the Englishman’s very best performances are the very elite. The problem is how often we see them. Maddison played beyond the 62nd minute in a Premier League game for the first time since early October. If he can reproduce this performance over an entire game more often, there’s little limit to what he can do in a Spurs shirt.
Manchester City vs Tottenham player ratings
(from fotmob.com)
Manchester City vs Tottenham player ratings (from fotmob.com)
Manchester City vs Tottenham player ratings (from fotmob.com)
What’s next?
City host Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday, then visit Liverpool at 11am ET Sunday, December 1.
Tottenham host AS Roma in the Europa League at 3pm Thursday before hosting Fulham at 8:30am Sunday, December 1.
How to watch Manchester City vs Tottenham live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 12:30 pm ET Saturday
Venue: Etihad Stadium — Manchester
TV Channel: NBC
Streaming: Stream online via NBC.com
Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur final score: 0-4
James Maddison 14', 20'; Pedro Porro, 53', Brennan Johnson 90+3'
Manchester City vs Tottenham live updates — By Nick Mendola
Brennan Johnson goal — Man City 0-4 Tottenham (90+3')
Spurs on the counter, again!
Johnson slides a Timo Werner pass over the line deep in stoppage time.
A proper stunner of a score line.
Haaland denied by Vicario, skirmish ensues
Really good from Erling Haaland and Guglielmo Vicario does really well to get his right paw on the shot.
Kevin De Bruyne’s bid at the rebound cuts down a Spurs defender and that’s brought both teams together inside the Spurs box.
KDB and Pape Sarr are shown yellow cards for their roles in the matter.
Still a three-goal Spurs lead with under 10 minutes to play in Manchester.
Enter De Bruyne and Grealish
City will get 16 minutes plus stoppage out of stars Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish.
Off go Rico Lewis and Savinho. You’d have to say these moves would’ve happened earlier if not for fitness.
Ederson comes up huge
A lightning counter attack from Tottenham leads to a wonderful swinging arm save by Ederson from Kulusevski at close range.
At the other end, Rico Lewis flashes over the goal.
Spurs sub
Brennan Johnson enters for Heung-min Son,
Pedro Porro goal! Man City 0-3 Tottenham (53rd minute)
Magnificent football.
Pedro Porro’s hammered finish will get the love here, but Kulusevski drives the build-up in the style.
Dominic Solanke’s cut back leads to the big finish, and if it were any other opponent you’d call the rout very much on.
Perhaps, given City’s struggles, we should do so anyway? Wow.
A change for City
Pep Guardiola takes off John Stones in favor of Nathan Ake as City look to come back from 2-nil.
Rodri celebrates Ballon d’Or (video)
A crutches-free Rodri was lauded at halftime for his Ballon d’Or-winning 2023-24 season.
wasHalftime — Man City 0-2 Tottenham
This is 2-0 the other way in another realm, but it could also be 1-1, 2-2, or any score given the performances.
But that’s the way things sometimes go when a team is slumping, and City came out of the international break looking inspired but may be finding the limits of their depth.
Vibes tend to flow in the same direction, and right now a frustrated Erling Haaland is telling the story of the score line.
Shots are 10-5 City and possession 55-45 to the hosts but the score line’s all Tottenham. Dejan Kulusevski has been wonderful for Tottenham.
Threats remain with City (but goals are all Spurs)
Savinho is saved but is offside.
Haaland has just missed the near post.
But still, City stare at a zero on the scoreboard after a half-hour.
Maddison again! — Man City 0-2 Tottenham (20th minute)
He is flying.
Brilliant from Spurs and poor from Josko Gvardiol and Rico Lewis, who are having trouble.
Maddison’s finish is nice, and Heung-min Son’s on the assist.
Time to wake up, City.
Foden nearly answers!
The ball from the left was intended for Erling Haaland, but Foden thought it was for him and makes a good chance out of it!
Unfortunately the Englishman misses the bar and it stays 1-0 to the visitors in the 17th minute.
James Maddison goal — Man City 0-1 Tottenham (14th minute)
Fantastic stuff from Spurs, who score on their first proper chance.
Dejan Kulusevski wins the ball on the right side, besting Josko Gvardiol and cutting center to send a delicious ball between two defenders.
James Maddison blazes onto the path and nods past Ederson. Uh oh, City.
City flying out of the traps
Looks like the champions have been soaking up all the doubts for a full two weeks.
Erling Haaland nearly has City in front but his shot is blocked by Yves Bissouma and it’s a corner kick.
It leads, eventually, to another corner. Spurs clear the danger.
0-0, 7'.
Manchester City lineup
Ederson, Walker, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Lewis, Gundogan, Silva, Savinho, Foden, Haaland
Tottenham lineup
Vicario, Porro, Dragusin, Davies, Udogie, Sarr, Bissouma, Maddison, Kulusevski, Son, Solanke
Manchester City team news, focus
OUT: Rodri (knee - out for season), Ruben Dias (muscular), Oscar Bobb (lower leg), Mateo Kovacic (undisclosed) | QUESTIONABLE: Jeremy Doku (thigh), Matheus Nunes (undisclosed)
Tottenham team news, focus
OUT: Cristian Romero (toe), Micky van de Ven (hamstring), Wilson Odobert (thigh), Richarlison (thigh), Rodrigo Bentancur (suspension) | QUESTIONABLE: Timo Werner (groin), Mikey Moore (illness)
Manchester City vs Tottenham prediction
Sixty minutes of Kevin De Bruyne might be just what City need to kickstart their sputtering attack (just three goals in three games) and unleash Erling Haaland on the world again. Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham.
Manchester City vs Tottenham all matches, head to head record
This will be the 55th meeting between these two teams in Premier League history.
Tottenham lead the head-to-head record with 28 wins, there have been 8 draws and Man City have won 18 games.
Man City vs Tottenham last game
The last time these two meet in the Premier League at the Etihad it was a classic, chaotic game on December 3, 2023. It is usually is must-watch between these two.
It ended in a 3-3 draw, with Tottenham taking the lead but Man City went 2-1 up before Spurs made it 2-2. Grealish gave City a 3-2 lead late on and it looked like that would win it, but Kulusevski equalized in the 90th minute to grab a dramatic draw for Spurs.
The highlights below speak for themselves.
