With a spectacular comeback and a 4-2 victory over Tottenham, Riyad Mahrez scored twice to give Manchester City new life. Spurs scored twice through Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal in the final seconds of the first half as a result of blunders by Ederson at the Etihad Stadium, shocking the Premier League winners.
Pep Guardiola's team rallied after the break despite the fact that they were eight points behind league leaders Arsenal and had played one more game.
Erling Haaland scored his first goal in four games to put the score even before the decisive Mahrez scored twice to seal the victory. Julian Alvarez had previously pulled one goal back.
The comeback kept City from suffering their third straight loss across all competitions, and Arsenal will likely regret their opponents' failure to inflict further damage on the champions as a result. In response to recent issues with City, particularly Saturday's derby loss to Manchester United, manager Guardiola changed his lineup.
Kevin De Bruyne was unexpectedly added to the roster of substitutes, and World Cup champion Alvarez was given the opportunity to start with Haaland. City obviously lacked dynamism without De Bruyne, but given how well they controlled the first half, it was amazing that they trailed 2-0 at the break.
Ilkay Gundogan missed with a curling free-kick, Mahrez sent a free-kick into the wall, and Alvarez had a shot blocked. Hugo Lloris made a fine save from Rico Lewis' deflected attempt after Rodri was stopped on the edge of the box.
Despite being quiet, Haaland still had a decent chance to score, but Lloris stopped him after another run into the area. Spurs continued to pose a threat, as Son Heung-header min's at Ederson was only stopped by a crucial header from Nathan Ake.
Ederson's sloppy pass put Rodri in danger, and Kulusevski directed the ball into the net under pressure from Rodrigo Bentancur to give the visitors the lead.
Ederson was once again at fault when he mishandled a cross from Kane to Emerson, who simply headed it back into the net before City had a chance to reorganize. As City made their way to the locker room, some spectators started to jeer them, but they responded in an amazing way.
Six minutes after the restart, Mahrez regained control of the situation and, after his cross into the box sparked a scramble in the goalmouth, Alvarez placed the ball into the roof of the net to cut the deficit.
Mahrez was once more engaged in City's two-minute comeback. This time, the Algerian winger successfully crossed the goal line to set up Haaland's close-range 28th goal of the year.
Lewis' unfortunate deflection of an Ivan Perisic shot onto the post during Spurs' attempt to retaliate aside, they largely failed to control City. They were defeated once more by Mahrez, who twisted Perisic and sprinted into the area to beat Lloris with a low shot and give City the lead.
Despite their best efforts, Spurs were unable to recover as Mahrez sealed the victory by capitalizing on a Clement Lenglet error to score late.
blogpay
Total Comments: 0