Title All But Assured: Tottenham 0-2 Man City - Match Review
Erling Haaland brace secures City's hand on the Premier League title
I mean, I didn’t plan to watch the game but I had the feeling to tune in anyway. City travelled to Tottenham knowing they had to win to all but confirm a Premier League title. Spurs turned up knowing that they had a slim chance of making the top four if they put in the performance of their lives.
But the match was a strange experience. Both teams were playing with zip, though City were more polished on the ball by far during the first 20 minutes: Spurs were playing as if they were wearing skates.
By the 25th minute Spurs were getting into their groove, as City’s nerves were getting the best of them. Pedro Porro, Pierre-Emile Højbjerg, James Maddison, and Pape Matar Sarr especially were creating great angles for the side but they were so unpolished that it was annoying to watch: the fans were barely audible, and I understand why!
City were misplacing passes all over the shop, patterns of play were going array - it was apparent the team were under pressure. I thought something was in the air when Phil Foden’s shot was blocked amazingly by Radu Drăgușin - he chested it away to row Z despite the play being called for offside. Pep was stressed out on the touchline: the skin on his head would’ve torn off if it could.
When the second half rolled around I was thinking: surely not - is Arsenal really gonna have a serious say over whether they win the title or not on the final day? Well, cometh the hour, cometh the man: Kevin De Bruyne takes it upon himself to provide a great cutback to Erling Haaland who taps the ball in cooly with a muted celebration to boot. I reckon Pep bollocked them at half-time.
But the nerves were only to increase from that point on. Spurs made some changes: Dejan Kulusevski coming on for Rodrigo Bentacour who was far from pleased: he utterly merked his seat out of anger.
Kulusevski was getting chances though so the change was justified: City’s substitute keeper Stefan Ortega kept the score 1-0 (to Ederson’s chagrin: he too bugged out because he was taken off due to his head injury).
Yet Spurs had the opportunity to really turn the game, the title race around: Heung Min Son straight through on goal, after Manuel Akanji fumbled his lines on the halfway line, had the chance to level the game on the 85th minute but he failed to take the chance in typical Spurs fashion. He was literally the man every Spurs and Arsenal fan wanted to see through on goal against City’s defence and he bottled it.
To top it all off, Pedro Porro was bamboozled by Jeremy Doku and gave away a pen. Haaland dispatched it with relief. City’s title was all but confirmed. They were facing Spurs after all: their fans started singing their anthem when they knew City won the game. 2-0. Sorry Arsenal - absolutely no one can tolerate you lifting the title 20 years after your precious invincibles did so.
It was a strange game, but it had to happen to ensure that Arsenal don’t, indeed, win the Premier League title.