Manchester City hadn’t lost in the Premier League since October. Tottenham Hotspur had suffered three losses on the trot. But form didn’t matter in a remarkable 90 minutes that breathed new life into the title race at the Etihad on Saturday.
Moments after Riyad Mahrez equalized from the penalty spot, Harry Kane headed home in the 95th minute to give Tottenham a stunning 3-2 win over the reigning champions.
The result ends City’s unbeaten run at 15 league matches and, more importantly, offers second-place Liverpool the chance to close the gap to three points when they play their game in hand against Leeds United on Wednesday.
Had Saturday’s fixtures gone differently, Liverpool could have ended the matchday a whopping 12 points behind City. But the Reds came back to beat Norwich City while Tottenham held firm despite controlling just 28% of possession.
Spurs raced out to a 1-0 lead in the fourth minute when Son Heung-Min ran onto Kane’s long ball and teed up Dejan Kulusevski’s first goal for the club. City slowly regained control, and Ilkay Gundogan flashed a shot that hit the outside of the post in the 20th minute. Gundogan made amends 13 minutes later, sweeping home from close range after Raheem Sterling’s cross forced a sloppy rebound from goalkeeper Hugo Lloris.
Son turned provider again in the second half with a beautiful delivery to Kane, who cushioned a spectacular volley past Ederson to restore Tottenham’s advantage.
With City reeling and unable to match the pace of Spurs’ transition game, Kane would have increased the lead had events not conspired against him. Ederson first denied Kane with a spectacular kick-save, and the English striker had a goal ruled offside in the 73rd minute.
Hope for City arrived in the 88th minute when Tottenham’s Cristian Romero conceded a penalty kick over a clear handball. Mahrez made no mistake from 12 yards, tucking an immaculate shot under the crossbar, but Kane appeared yet again to score just his seventh league goal of the season.
Spurs now account for two of City’s three defeats in the 2021-22 Premier League campaign. In August, Son downed City with the only goal of a game Kane missed amid rumors that he wanted to leave Tottenham and join Pep Guardiola’s side.
