Manchester City FC

Fit again and restored to the starting line-up after missing the last two games, the Norwegian struck in decisive fashion on 12 minutes to register his 20th Premier League goal of the season.

He latched onto Jeremy Doku’s inviting cross and drilled home an instinctive first-time finish that ultimately proved decisive.

Haaland thought he had wrapped up victory late on when he had the ball in the net again only for referee Jarred Gillett to rule the effort out for handball, a decision upheld after a lengthy VAR check.

Nevertheless, it was a crucial win for City, moving us back into the top four – and the boss was quick to acknowledge its significance as well the exciting potential of our young attacking line up.

“In the second half we suffer but we should have closed it in the first. But for Champions League qualification, it was an incredibly good result for us,” Pep reflected.

“Eddy was good. The defending was good, Ruben and Khusanov was extraordinary, Josko and Matheus again and in the end a good result for us.

“For sure [the goal] it’s the future. We have a young, young team.

“The three up front is the future. Nico when Rodri come back will be the future. Khusanov, you have seen it today and Josko is young.

“Bernardo, Gundo and Kevin and the other ones are still really important. It’s a question of time and new acquisitions we will do in the summer have to lead the club for years.”

Aside from Haaland’s strike, City also carved open several other excellent opportunities to add to our lead in what was an impressive first half display.

However, we had to withstand periods of Spurs pressure after the break with player of the match Ederson making several key saves, the most notable a brilliant block to deny Son Heung-min five minutes from time.

The boss said the second 45 minutes was a timely reminder of the need to never drop our guard.

“We were better in the first and they were better in the second. 1-0 2-0 3-0 that should have happened because of the chances,” Pep added.

“Never ever can you stop playing. Always you have to play and make long actions. Teams play so high it can happen.

“Always it’s a lesson when you stop to do it, anything can happen. This season after we draw or lose the games many, many times and hopefully we can improve.”

The prolific striker needed just 12 minutes to find the bottom corner from Jeremy Doku‘s deflected cross, and saw a late strike ruled out for handball, as City claimed three important points to move back into fourth place in the table.

MATCH REPORT: TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0-1 CITY

Haaland missed two matches with a knee problem after feeling some discomfort during the 4-0 victory over Newcastle United earlier this month, but returned to be the match-winner at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“Yeah, important win and happy to be back,” declared Haaland in his post-match interview with City TV.

“Yeah, it’s good to be back. I feel good. Of course it’s been a tough last few weeks but that’s life. You have to look forward, you have to keep going. And you have to stay positive because we can still manage to do things.

“We should have scored more goals and I think we should have finished the game. But this is what happens. In the end it’s a difificult game but we managed to win and that’s really important.

“Clean sheet and to win the game is amazing. So we’re all happy.”

The striker also spoke about the importance of our goalkeepers after another stellar display between the sticks by Ederson.

The striker returned to the City team after missing two matches due to injury and took just 12 minutes to get back on the scoresheet, coolly slotting into the corner for his 20th league strike of the campaign from Jeremy Doku’s deflected cross.

With that goal, our No.9 became only the second player ever to score 20+ goals in each of his first three Premier League seasons, striking 36 times in his first season, before reaching 27 in 2023/24.

MATCH REPORT: TOTTENHAM HOSTPUR 0-1 CITY

Pep Guardiola’s men now have three wins in our last five league outings and sit in fourth place in the table, as Haaland reiterated the importance of the victory.

“Happy. [It’s an] important three points, that’s what we need,” he said in an interview after the match.

“Yeah I think Jeremy [Doku] did a really good game and he should have had more assists today. It was a great goal and good to get the ball from Jeremy.

“It’s not easy to know when to get the ball, it was lucky as well with the deflection there.”

The striker also became just the second player in Premier League history to score 10+ goals both home and away in three separate seasons.

PICTURE SPECIAL: Haaland strike sinks spurs!

Despite the impressive individual numbers and records, the Norwegian insisted that his mind and body is solely focused on success for the team.

“Of course it’s nice to hear that now obviously, but again, when you’re in the moment you don’t really think of it,” he said.

“In my first season at City it was all talk about most goals in a season but I couldn’t think of that because all I wanted was to win games and win the league. So of course it is nice to hear it after but that is not my focus.

“My focus is to help the team win, I know it’s boring but it’s true. Of course, it’s nice to score goals. We win and that’s what really matters.”

Having missed last week’s defeats against Real Madrid and Liverpool, it was a reminder of the impact our clinical finisher can make.

Haaland even thought he’d put the icing on the cake in the dying moments after stroking past Guglielmo Vicario but he instead saw the strike ruled out for handball.

City could have put the game out of sight in the first half but were instead forced to work hard for a clean sheet and the three points as the hosts improved after the break.

The hard-fought win moves us back into the top four of the Premier League with 11 games remaining.

After four successive league defeats without a goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium following its opening, we have now been successful on our last two trips to the top-flight’s newest venue.

What happened

The match began at a furious pace until City were able to slow the game down and settle into our passing rhythm.

Our first major opening of the evening came in the seventh minute, as Matheus Nunes sprinted to the byline and pulled back for Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian dug out a first-time volley with his right foot that Guglielmo Vicario pouched on his line.

Our returning No.9’s eyes widened just seconds later when racing onto a pass over the top, but Vicario got to the ball a fraction of a second before the striker.

The inevitable opener finally came in the 12th minute as Jeremy Doku squared up Pedro Porro on the left wing and threaded a pass to a waiting Haaland six yards out.

He made no mistake for his 20th Premier League goal of the season and his 10th away from the Etihad.

With that, he became only the second player after Ruud van Nistelrooy to hit 20 in their first three seasons in the Premier League and second after Harry Kane to score 10+ goals home and away in three consecutive terms in our division.

Our next major opening came shortly before the half hour mark and Doku was again the source.

Released down the left, he whipped the ball across goal ahead of Spurs’ retreating defence and into the path of Savinho. The Brazilian hit his shot directly into the floor and saw it clear the bar.

Asweeping move from right to left followed only moments later, with Doku again passing into Haaland’s path.

In a similar position to where he had scored less than 20 minutes prior, our man this time saw Vicario block his shot with a desperate leap.

It was a siege by that point and Pep Guardiola’s frustrations only grew as Savinho sat Destiny Udogie down before hammering the ball into Kevin Danso’s body.

We were almost made to pay for those spurned chances on the cusp of half-time, when Ederson had to be alert to tip over Danso’s glancing header.

The second half started in a similar vein to the majority of the first 45 though, with City immediately on the front foot.

Doku had the first shot in anger after the break, stepping in off his wing and angling an effort far wide of Vicario’s post.

Our wingers continued to stretch Spurs’ defence to its fullest, standing on the touchline and waiting for the pass before cutting in.

Savinho was the next to pull the trigger, following excellent work and a raking cross-field pass from Josko Gvardiol. However, the Brazilian again saw his shot blocked.

Spurs’ catalyst for an energetic finish came just seconds later, with Wilson Odobert flinging himself at Porro’s low cross but failing to squeeze it inside the back post.

Ederson was soon tested again, as Odobert’s shot was deflected up in the air off Nunes.

It would have looped in if not for the quick feet and swinging claw of our goalkeeper.

On-loan striker Mathys Tel should then have levelled the scores, with Udogie stealing the ball off Savinho and driving into our final third before supplying his team-mate.

All connected with City were relieved as Tel’s touch crawled wide of Ederson‘s post, but the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was suddenly alive with hope.

Substitutes Heung-min Son and Pape Matar Sarr then linked up, with the latter’s shot headed clear by Gvardiol, who had read the play brilliantly to position himself in front of goal.

Spurs’ talismanic Korean forward then had their golden opportunity to take a point with just over five minutes remaining, turning a cross towards goal only for the diving Ederson to make a stunning stop.

In the same goal where Stefan Ortega Moreno all but sealed last year’s Premier League title by denying Son, Ederson‘s intervention was enough to guarantee our eighth Premier League clean sheet of the season.

With just seconds left, Haaland thought he’d added our second after emerging from a clash with Danso to stroke into the corner of the goal.

However, his celebrations were cut shot by the referee’s whistle before VAR agreed with Jarred Gillett’s decision that the Norwegian had used his arm.

It mattered little in the grand scheme of things, as City claimed all three points.

Teams

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Khusanov, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Nico (Bernardo 73), Kovacic (Gundogan 90), Savinho (McAtee 90), Marmoush (Foden 73), Doku (Grealish 90), Haaland

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Ake, De Bruyne, Lewis

SPURS XI: Vicario, Porro, Gray, Danso, Udogie, Bergvall, Bentancur (Sarr 67), Maddison (C) (Werner 82), Johnson, Tel (Kulusevski 66), Odobert (Son 67)

Subs: Kinsky, Reguilon, Spence, Bissouma, Scarlett

Pep Guardiola reaction

The boss’ thoughts will follow shortly...

Man of the match

Ederson - Our brilliant Brazilian is mostly revered for his world-class distribution skills, but this performance was an excellent reminder of his prowess when it comes to goalkeeping fundamentals.

He made six pivotal saves, including a stunning late diving stop from Heung-min Son, as we battled to an eighth clean sheet of the Premier League season.

Spurs’ xG of more than one goal shows that on another day, the hosts could easily have earned a point.

Instead they came up against a goalkeeper who has proven over his seven-and-a-half seasons in England to be one of the Premier League era’s very, very best.

Haaland reaction

“Happy. [It’s an] important three points, that’s what we need.

“I think Jeremy [Doku] did a really good game and he should have had more assists today.

“It was a great goal and good to get the ball from Jeremy. It’s not easy to know when to get the ball, it was lucky as well with the deflection there.”

Goal machine

Erling Haaland didn’t need long to highlight exactly what we missed in last week’s defeats against Real Madrid and Liverpool.

In fact, the opener came from a situation that Jeremy Doku found himself in on multiple occasions after beating Trent Alexander-Arnold on Sunday.

However, this time the Belgian had Haaland to aim for. Despite the Norwegian’s size and stature, he strolled into space and was an easy target for the winger to pick out.

His casual finish took him to 20 goals in the Premier League this season and 83 in total in just 93 games in the English top-flight.

He also became only the second player after Harry Kane to score 10+ goals home and away in three consecutive Premier League seasons.

It may go without saying, but with the No.9 on the pitch City really can score at any moment.

What it means

The victory moves us to 47 points from 27 games and back into the top four of the Premier League.

We have won 14 of our matches, drawn five and lost eight.

What’s next

We host Plymouth Argyle in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday 1 March at 17:45 (UK).

Our next Premier League assignment sees us go to Nottingham Forest for a 12:30 (UK) start on Saturday 8 March.

Pep Guardiola‘s men made the perfect start in north London as Haaland took just 12 minutes to grab his 20th goal of the league campaign, after missing two matches with a knee problem.

Neat build up play involving Omar Marmoush, Savinho, Nico and Jeremy Doku ended with the latter’s cross finding the feet of the unmarked Haaland, who made no mistake from six yards.

Eight minutes later, the electric Doku forced Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario into a superb low save, before the shot-stopper was called into action again on the half-hour mark, saving Haaland’s close range effort.

MATCH REPORT: TOTTENHAM HOTSPUR 0-1 CITY

Ten minutes after the interval, the hosts created their first big chance of the evening as a teasing cross made its way to the back post, but Wilson Odobert diverted wide at full-stretch.

Spurs remained on the front foot and with six minutes left to play, Ederson produced a splendid save to deny Heung-Min Son from eight yards.

Guardiola‘s men weathered the storm, remaining focused and resolute at the back to claim three important points, keeping us in fourth place and taking us one point behind Nottingham Forest, who drew against Arsenal.

The Norwegian hasn’t featured in our last two matches after suffering a knee injury late on in the recent victory over Newcastle United.

However, he’s one of four players who missed Sunday’s defeat to Liverpool to come into the side for tonight’s trip to north London.

Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias and Mateo Kovacic also step into the XI, with Rico Lewis, Nathan Ake, Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden dropping to the bench.

After failing to score on our first four Premier League trips to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium since its opening, we registered a vital 2-0 victory at this ground last term to leave us just one win from the title.

Teams

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Khusanov, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Nico, Kovacic, Savinho, Marmoush, Doku, Haaland

Subs: Ortega Moreno, Ake, Grealish, De Bruyne, Gundogan, Bernardo, Foden, Lewis, McAtee

SPURS XI: Vicario, Porro, Gray, Danso, Udogie, Bergvall, Bentancur, Maddison (C), Johnson, Tel, Odobert

Subs: Kinsky, Reguilon, Spence, Bissouma, Sarr, Kulusevski, Werner, Son, Scarlett

Tactics

A back four will protect Ederson‘s goal. Matheus Nunes looks likely to reprise his hybrid role across right-back and central midfield, with Josko Gvardiol full-back on the opposite side.

Captain Ruben Dias will play alongside Abdukodir Khusanov, who will be hoping to build on his excellent showing against Liverpool.

Nico and Mateo Kovacic will be in central midfield, with Savinho and Jeremy Doku out on the wings in support of strikers Omar Marmoush and Erling Haaland.

Strike partnership

The last time Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush started together, the Egyptian scored a first-half hat-trick.

So Marmoush will no doubt be delighted to see our No.9 return to the side this evening as the pair continue to work on their blossoming partnership.

Haaland didn’t score in that win over Newcastle, but very much remains the main threat for every opposition defence.

He’s just one strike away from netting his tenth away goal of the Premier League season, which would make him only the second player ever to score 10+ home goals and 10+ away goals in three consecutive campaigns.

He also already has six goals in London this season, with only former Leeds man Tony Yeboah doing better for non-London sides in a single campaign (eight in 1995/96).

Match stats

● Following their 4-0 win the reverse fixture, Spurs are looking to do the league double over City for the first time since 2021-22. They last did so without conceding in 2009-10.

● Having lost our first four Premier League games at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium without scoring a single goal, City won this exact fixture 2-0 last season.

● Spurs have beaten Manchester City twice and Manchester United three times in all competitions this season – no team has ever beaten both Manchester sides three times each in the same campaign before.

● Spurs have won their last three Premier League games, as many as they had in their previous 15 (D2 L10). They last won four in a row in September/October 2023.

● Son Heung-min has provided nine assists for Spurs in the Premier League this season, including two for Brennan Johnson in their 4-1 win against Ipswich last time out. Only in 2019/20, 2020/21 and 2023/24 has he provided more in a single campaign in the competition (10 each time).

● Erling Haaland is one away goal away from scoring 10+ home goals and 10+ away goals in three different Premier League campaigns (also 2022/23 and 2023/24). The only player to have ever done so in three consecutive seasons is Harry Kane (2015-16 to 2017-18).

● Haaland has scored six goals in five Premier League games in London this season. In the competition’s history, only Leeds’ Tony Yeboah has scored more in the capital in a single campaign among players to play for non-London sides (eight in 1995/96).

Gareth Taylor’s City side take on Spurs at the Gaughan Group Stadium on Sunday 2 March, with kick-off scheduled for 14:00 (UK).

The match is available to view live in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland on the official Barclays Women’s Super League YouTube channel.

Fans from anywhere outside of the UK and Ireland can find out how to tune in to the match via our global TV listings below, courtesy of livesoccertv.com.

Our fight to close the gap further on the division’s top three continues in the capital this week with our next assignment against Robert Vilahamn’s Spurs.

City head into the clash in a more favourable position after our previous 4-0 victory against Liverpool in the WSL as we continue to fight for a UEFA Women’s Champions League place.

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Our opponents, on the other hand, have fallen further behind Taylor’s side, placed sixth in the table, after back-to-back defeats.

As always, you can keep up to date on all the action throughout the match on mancity.com and the Official Man City App.

Minute-by-minute match updates will begin in our Matchday Centre 90 minutes before kick-off and will continue through to Gareth Taylor and his team’s post-match reactions.

Throughout the test, you can also listen to live audio commentary while out text commentary continues.

Make sure you have your push notifications turned on, so you can be alerted to every key moment throughout the clash including goals, red cards and team news.

A detailed match report and post-match reaction will also be available digitally shortly after the full-time whistle.

Highlights and a CITY+ full match replay will be available at midday on Monday.

(Listing correct as of Wednesday 26 February)

GLOBAL TV LISTINGS

Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and Nico joined the squad in the most recent transfer window while Argentinian midfielder Claudio Echeverri is set to join up with the squad.

Three of those five players featured in our clash with Liverpool at the weekend and while the 2-0 scoreline was disappointing, Guardiola said there was a lot of positives in the performance.

They will be in consideration for our Premier League clash with Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday at 19:30 (UK).

And Guardiola says they can look at the career of Kevin De Bruyne as an inspiration for what can be achieved by joining City at a young age.

“I’m a big supporter that when you sign players it’s better to find them young and make their career,” the City boss said.

“When Kevin came here, when he came here to do what he’s done, he came to do it here. The club prefers that than buying a player to come for the last years.

“We will see how they behave, the players [can be] here a long time and the young ones, game-by-game, and try to finish what we want to do and prepare the next seasons.”

Uzbekistan international Khusanov’s move to the Etihad has been made harder by the language barrier.

But Guardiola says he is having English lessons and has been encouraged by his speed and strength.

“We push him to take lessons every day,” he added. “As much as possible of course it’s important to communicate.

“I would say when we speak English properly, do we communicate much, I don’t think so. But to understand the game and what he has to do, it’s fine.”

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On starting against Liverpool, Pep said: “[Ruben Dias] came from an injury and we wanted a bit more pace from Khusanov, and a left foot on the left side.

“Ruben is massively important for us as a player and a character and many things. He’s been a key point for that period, an important player, but sometimes I decide, and I decided for other players.”

Guardiola says he needs the full-squad as we chase as high as finish as possible in the Premier League and the FA Cup, followed by the Club World Cup in the summer.

“We need everyone for the end of the season, absolutely everyone,” he said. “I will decide for this lineup tomorrow, but for another one, we need everyone.

“We are part of that and of course in the next one, two, three years the players will be a little bit different. Everyone knows it.

“[Echeverri] will start to train, maybe for the end of the season or the Club World Cup but as soon as possible he’ll arrive and adapt quickly for the future.”

Pep Guardiola’s side visit the capital in our latest Premier League assignment on Wednesday 26 February, with kick-off scheduled for 19:30 (UK).

It represents the third time we will have played Ange Postecoglou’s side this term following October’s Carabao Cup clash in London and the first league fixture at the Etihad Stadium in November - both of which ended in Spurs victories.

Although we currently sit 11 points and eight places above the North London side in the table heading into the clash, Nunes highlighted Spurs’ threat before the teams lock horns at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“We have played against them a lot of times already and we know they are a very aggressive team,” Nunes said.

“They have a lot of quality players. They have had injuries, but they still have a lot of quality players in the squad.

“It is going to be a really tough game, it is always tough there and I think we won there for the first time last season since their new stadium.

“We know it is very tough to play there and we are going to try to do our best to win like we always do.

“We know we are in a tough position. Of course, one game is not going to change everything and we have been like this for a while now.

“We want to bounce back as quickly as we can and we are trying.

“Sometimes it feels like we are going to bounce back but then we take another step back. Of course, we are not happy and we are not satisfied. We want to come back to where we were before.”

In the time since City last played Spurs, Guardiola’s team welcomed four new players to the Club during the January transfer window.

Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and Nico all arrived at the Etihad as the Catalan meticulously reshaped his squad before the second half of the term.

And Nunes believes our quartet of recruits have already made a big impact on the team.

He added: “In the period where we were struggling a little bit with the results, to have new players in and specifically [Omar] because we know he was doing very well in the Bundesliga with his energy and movements, you can tell he is always a threat to the opposition.

“It is also very good to have the other new signings as well.

“Khusanov has been helping us a lot in this part of the season. A lot of the comments this season are that we haven’t been good enough, but we are.

“We just needed a few more fresh players and that is what the manager did. They are trying to help us and they are also future players for the years to come.”

Pep Guardiola’s side visit the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Wednesday with kick-off in the capital set for 19:30 (UK).

It represents the third time we will have locked horns with Ange Postecoglu’s side this term following our battles in the Premier League and Carabao Cup earlier this term.

The Blues enter the meeting in north London aiming to bounce back to our narrow defeat to Liverpool last time out as we look to strengthen our position in the division’s top four.

READ: PEP PROVIDES HAALAND FITNESS UPDATE

However, Spurs will be buoyed coming into the fixture following their 4-1 win over Ipswich in their previous assignment.

It all points towards an exciting clash in the capital and City’s meticulous hard work continued at the City Football Academy on Tuesday.