Manchester City are back into the top-four thanks to a 1-0 win over Tottenham.
Man City, who began the night 20 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, had dropped to fifth in the table following Chelsea’s 4-0 win over Southampton on Tuesday, but have boosted their chances of Champions League qualification with a deserved win in north London.
The main talking point ahead of kick-off at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium was that both Ange Postecoglou and Pep Guardiola sprung surprises with their team selections.
For Spurs, Dejan Kulusevski, Heung-min Son and Djed Spence were all named as substitutes, whilst the visitors left Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva on the bench.
However, Guardiola was able to recall Erling Haaland after a two-game absence and the prolific striker did not need long to mark his comeback in classic fashion.
After missing an earlier chance, Haaland broke the deadlock in the 12th minute as he had the simple task of tapping the ball home following great wing play from Jeremy Doku whose cross did take a deflection before finding the Norwegian.
From there City ought to have put the game to bed. Savinho should have made it 2-0 after being picked out by Doku but despite being unmarked in the six-yard box, he skied his effort over the bar.
Meanwhile, Spurs had Guglielmo Vicario to thank as he made important saves to deny Doku and Haaland to ensure no further damage was done prior to the half-time break.
The hosts did improve in the second half and their best chance fell to Son but he was denied by a brilliant save from Ederson.
Late drama ensued as Haaland had an effort disallowed in stoppage-time for an apparent handball before Pape Matar Sarr spurned a great opportunity to equalise for Spurs with the last kick of the game.
