Tottenham, with the South Korean to the fore, disrupted Manchester City with their relentless pressure to earn a 2-0 victory over Pep Guardiola’s sideSon Heung-min left the pitch just before full-time at White Hart Lane to a huge, concerted ovation. By that stage Tottenham Hotspur’s stand-in No9 was so utterly spent, so drenched in goodwill from a cooing, gurgling home crowd that, as Andre Marriner shooed him off, Son mistook the referee’s gesture for one of congratulation and tried to shake his hand.On the bench there were backslaps and hugs for a performance of prodigious energy and craft, a significant turn not just in this 2-0 defeat of Manchester City but in City’s wider attempts to adapt to new rhythms...
First meets second as Manchester City visit Spurs, Theo Walcott looks to continue his hot streak and will this be the last we see of Francesco Guidolin?Given that the tactic of trying to absorb pressure had not worked for any of Manchester City’s opponents, it made sense for Swansea to try something different last weekend, as the Welsh side attempted to disrupt the league leaders’ momentum by squeezing their centre-backs when they had the ball. It did not work, of course, because City were still too sharp in attack. Yet Tottenham Hotspur’s feverish high press could yield greater rewards at White Hart Lane on Sunday. Both sides are without key attacking players – Harry Kane for Spurs, Kevin De Bruyne...
The manager may have added to the pressure on the former No1 for Manchester City’s visit, given the goalkeeper has been left short of first-team actionShould Brendan Rodgers succeed where José Mourinho did not, namely by spending post-match time in the company of Pep Guardiola, the pair will find common ground.The key similarity relates to goalkeeping matters. Guardiola’s consigning of Joe Hart to the substitutes’ bench and subsequently Torino was high profile on account of the England No1’s status but Rodgers has taken controversial steps of his own. Related: Pep Guardiola tells Manchester City to ignore ‘little record’ at Celtic Continue reading...
Son shines again for Tottenham, Chelsea and Leicester need defensive shake-ups, Palace signings prove their value and Southampton are ticking over againThe moment that summed up the discord in the Chelsea defence came on 64 minutes, when Gary Cahill wanted Thibaut Courtois to come to collect; the goalkeeper stayed on his line and Branislav Ivanovic bludgeoned the ball into touch. Cahill and Courtois argued. But errors had disfigured the performance to leave Chelsea 3-0 down at half-time: it was shocking, for example, to see how easily Mesut Özil accelerated away from the defensive midfielder N’Golo Kanté before he scored Arsenal’s third. Antonio Conte did not cancel his players’ day off on Sunday but they can expect a video inquest when...
Given how Pep Guardiola has treated Yaya Touré and Joe Hart, the news could soon be worse for the Manchester City defender after his 34th injuryThere is a wonderful old sketch in The Goon Show when Throat, Neddie Seagoon and Justin Eidelburger, played by Spike Milligan and his partners in anarchy, Harry Secombe and Peter Sellers, intend to steal Napoleon’s piano and arrange to meet outside the Louvre on the second stroke of midnight. Except Seagoon arrives on the third stroke. “You’re late,” Eidelburger says. And the explanation is a thing of beauty. “Sorry,” Seagoon says, “my legs were slow.”Vincent Kompany, one imagines, knows the feeling. It’s just not so funny in his case when his legs are not what...