Tottenham given edge by Poyet's deft strike

Manchester City 2 Tottenham Hotspur 3

City blew the chance of spending Christmas in the top half of the Premiership last night as their attacking panache was outweighed by their defensive inadequacies. After threatening to blow Spurs away in the first half-hour, a catastrophic series of breakdowns in the marking condemned them to a frustrating defeat.

Kevin Keegan might like to regard himself as the free-thinking buccaneer of the Premiership, but he fought shy of starting with Ali Benarbia alongside Eyal Berkovic in midfield, despite the Algerian's influence on the game when he came on as a substitute at Charlton last time out.

The solitary playmaker should really have been enough to put City ahead within the first two minutes. Steve Howey played the ball long and Berkovic was in the clear with Kasey Keller committed, but his lob over the goalkeeper had dropped wide of the far post.

There was another close call for a defence that had not settled to its job when Berkovic put over a corner and Marc-Vivien Foé's back header demanded an excellent save from Keller, with Nicolas Anelka unable to force in the rebound.

The problems Berkovic was causing were underlined by Steffen Freund's clattering tackle which brought him a booking, but the Israeli soon gave the striker Shaun Goater a chance with another well-weighted pass, Keller again having to save.

The busy Keller had another diving save to make from Anelka, as City's whirlwind start continued. Anelka's trickery on the by-line then saw him put the ball across the six-yard box without City being able to apply the vital touch for an overdue first goal.

Spurs were having trouble getting into the game although, when they did attack, City gave them some encouragement by looking far less convincing in defence than they were going forward, but that has been a Maine Road characteristic for longer than most supporters care to remember.

Berkovic continued to tease and torment and Freund's second foul on him was well worth a second booking. Justice of a sort was done, however, when Kevin Horlock knocked in the free-kick and Howey's glancing header found the far corner.

That goal was richly deserved, but less than 10 minutes later City were undone by their frailties at the other end. Christian Ziege hit a corner from the right and all the home side's good work was wiped out by the unmarked Chris Perry's diving header.

City could even have been behind at half-time if the veteran goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel had not made an acrobatic save from Ziege's ferocious shot. That was only a temporary let-off.

City's woeful defending let them down again three minutes into the second half when Robbie Keane broke free on the left and floated over a cross that beat Schmeichel for Simon Davies to head home off the far post.

City could have been further behind when Steffen Iversen missed the target from another inviting Ziege cross. Benarbia was brought in to the action and only a perfectly-timed tackle from Dean Richards prevented Danny Tiatto from cashing in on his immediate link-up with Berkovic.

There was almost a horrible moment for Schmeichel when his botched clearance hit Iversen and almost rolled into the net as City looked just as capable of conceding another as of finding an equaliser.

Goater's downward header bounced over and Berkovic's shot skimmed the outside of the post as City pushed forward, but their final downfall came in familiar fashion as Gus Poyet met Ziege's corner with another unopposed header eight minutes from time.

Ziege tarnished his display by being sent off three minutes later for a second booking after the kicking the ball away, but despite Benarbia's injury-time spectacular, curled in from outside the box, Spurs had ensured the success of their final league visit to Maine Road.

Manchester City (3-3-1-2) Schmeichel 4; Dunne 3, Howey 4, Distin 4; Sun Jihai 4 (Benarbia 7, 57), Foé 6, Horlock 5; Tiatto 5; Berkovic 8, Goater 4 (Huckerby, 84), Anelka 6. Substitutes not used: Nash (gk), Jensen, Wiekens.

Tottenham Hotspur (3-5-2) Keller 7; Perry 7, Richards 6, King 6; Carr 5, Davies 6, Freund 6, Anderton 6, Ziege 7; Iversen 5 (Poyet 6, 70), Keane 6. Substitutes not used: Sullivan (gk), Bunjevcevic, Thatcher, Clemence,.

Referee: J Winter (Stockton-on-Tees) 5.