Harry Kane scored the only goal of the game as 10-man Tottenham beat Manchester City 1-0 in North London.
City had started by far the brighter of the two sides, but in the 15th minute they would fall behind following a sloppy piece of play. Rodri’s attempted pass on the edge of his own box was picked off by Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg before the Danish international burst into the box and laid it off to Harry Kane. The England skipper made no mistake as he fired past Ederson with a first-time finish to become the club’s all-time leading record goalscorer (267) and just the third player to net 200 Premier League goals.
The goal seemed to boost Spurs’ confidence, though despite largely looking hungrier than their opponents, City did twice come close to drawing the scores level in the first half, Jack Grealish curling an effort narrowly wide, while Riyad Mahrez saw a strike come back off the bar.
Manchester City came into the game having scored more goals than any side in the Premier League in the second half of games so far this season (30), including four against Spurs last month, though the second half in this one went much the same way as the first, with the visitors seemingly unable to get talisman Erling Haaland into the game.
Despite the absence of Antonio Conte on the touchline, his side put in the kind of battling performance that the Italian would be proud of, as they restricted the Champions in front of goal, with Haaland ultimately not having a touch in the Spurs box.
Spurs did have to see the game out with just 10 men, the ever-industrious Cristian Romero being given his marching orders with three minutes of regulation time to play, the World Cup winner bringing down the influential Jack Grealish 30 yards from goal.
Harry Kane's game by numbers vs. Man City:
38 touches
10 touches in opp. box
5 shots
5 duels won
2 shots on target
2 take-ons
2 chances created
2 fouls won
1 goalSpurs' all-time top goalscorer and the quickest player to score 200 goals in Premier League history. ⚪ pic.twitter.com/8LKAB0t4bk
— Squawka (@Squawka) February 5, 2023
Speaking after the game, matchwinner Harry Kane was asked about his record-breaking achievement, describing previous record-holder Jimmy Greaves as ‘a complete hero’.
“It’s hard to put into words and I’m so glad it came in a win,” he told Sky Sports.
“We worked so hard to keep a clean sheet. It was so special to do it in front of the fans. There has been so much talk about it in the last couple of weeks and to do it in such a big game is even more special.
“It is a great feeling. When I started playing regularly it wasn’t even in my imagination to score 200 Premier League goals and I have a few more years left so hopefully there are more to come.
“[Jimmy Greaves] is a complete hero, one of the best strikers to play the game so to be in that conversation is special. And to overtake him is a huge moment for me.”
Spurs assistant boss Christian Stellini took charge of the side in the absence of Antonio Conte, and the Italian said he hoped that he would be back next week.
“It was a tough week and we have to give a great compliment to all the players and the staff. It was a tough week because we lost Antonio [Conte] this week, hopefully he’ll be back next week. He’ll be back happy now.
5 – Manchester City have lost all five of their matches against Spurs at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, failing to score a single goal despite having 84 shot attempts. Frustration. pic.twitter.com/toK1PiIge8
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 5, 2023
“I spoke to him on the phone just now and he said congratulations to the team and especially Harry.
“The key was the capacity to suffer when City has the ball. We know when we play against this team we have to suffer because they have the ball a lot but we moved well in the defensive situation and defended the goal in a brilliant way.
“We knew very well that in that game (at City) we lost our key – our capacity to suffer. We lost that last time, we spoke about that situation and that we had to be angry, motivated.
“To reach our target, we have to suffer more, to fight. When you are winning against City, they can play with great pace. You have to be strong and we controlled the space very well.”
