Manchester City – Spurs 4-1 Match Report

Att: 45,549

Goals: City: Aguero 13, 20 (pen), 68 (pen), 75. Tottenham: Eriksen 15

Ratings

Hart: Made some brilliant saves to maintain our lead, denying Mason early on at close range, the same player again later in the first half, then Soldado in the second half. The latter’s penalty was poor and lacked pace, but still Hart deserves credit for saving that too. Surely a new contract is in the offing: 9

Sagna: He lacks Zabaleta’s polish going forward and left one or two gaps in the first half that Kompany had to fill, but other than that, he defended pretty well: 6

Kompany: Reliable as ever: 7

Demichelis: Left exposed for the Tottenham goal, and not all of his clearances or passes were well directed: 6

Clichy: Decent defending, and whilst he made some good forward runs again his crossing tended to end up in the keeper’s arms. 7

Navas: Some lovely crosses, one of which earned our third penalty. Went close himself but for a save from Lloris just before the hour. He came inside as well and took more creative responsibility after the break: 8

Fernando: Some excellent covering and tackling, but he was caught in possession in the move that led to Tottenham’s goal. Lovely pass from him set up Aguero for our fourth goal: 7

Lampard: Was showing good poise and composure in midfield, setting up Aguero to score the first, before picking up a thigh injury in a challenge close to half way. 7

Milner: Skilful, tenacious, strong in the tackle, full of running and is getting closer to that deserved goal, having hit the right hand post here: 8

Silva: Played just behind Aguero in attack. Looked a little jaded and he uncharacteristically gave the ball away in attack with four misplaced passes. Nevertheless he was important when we did flow, and one lovely pass played in Navas just before the hour mark. 6

Aguero: A truly brilliant all round show. Scored a right foot goal of the highest class, a left foot goal of the highest class, and two beautifully struck penalties. Showed his human side when he struck his second penalty straight at Lloris, and the rebound over, but possessed the character to score the third penalty that we were awarded. Also demonstrated great pace, power, intelligence and great strength all afternoon too, particularly with one shoulder charge that knocked his marker over. He would have had more goals had it not been for Lloris making two very good saves, one in the second half in particularly had to be good to stop a ferociously struck Aguero shot. Aguero was left clutching his back just behind the right hip area for the last 10 minutes or so, but says he will be fine. Hopefully he is right. Top class, and a great player. It was a privilege to watch him 10 (***Man of the Match***)

Subs

Fernandinho (for Lampard 28): Tenacious. Not quite as careful in possession as usual: 6

Jovetic (for Silva 70): No real impact: 6

Yaya Toure (for Fernando 76): Brought poise and calmness to our team: 7

Not used: Caballero, Boyata, Kolarov, Dzeko

Best Oppo:

Eriksen: His clever intelligent movement gave us problems for much of the afternoon and he took his goal well: 8

Refwatch

Jon Moss: Looked fitter than in previous games and was actually up with play! Tottenham’s penalty was a challenge outside the box and should not have been awarded. Some referees might have deemed Frank Lampard to have been offside and interfering with play for our opener but Lloris would not have saved that shot in any situation, so Lampard’s positioning is probably irrelevant: 7