Man City vs Tottenham result: City walk the tightrope to keep Premier League title race in their own hands

Manchester City 1-0 Tottenham: Phil Foden scored the only goal of the game to put the champions back on top of the Premier League table with four games remaining

This time Manchester City stayed on the tightrope.

Three days after having their hearts broken and their quadruple dreams extinguished by this remarkably resilient Tottenham Hotspur team, City hung on. This 1-0 win was painful for City in so many ways, especially because they lost Kevin De Bruyne, their best player, to a knee injury that will likely finish his season.

But it was still enough. And now City only have to win their last four remaining league games, starting at Old Trafford next week, if they are to retain the Premier League title. They will have to do it without De Bruyne, and it will likely get even more nervous for them than this. But at this stage of the season only winning counts, and all the strung-out angst gave way to relief when Michael Oliver blew his whistle at the end. Players of both sides were left flat on the floor at the end of this trilogy, delighted they will not have to play each other again for months.

This had all of the tension of Wednesday night but a fraction of the drama. Rather than seven goals and almost an eighth there was only one, right at the very start. Phil Foden’s flying header could have settled City’s nerves but instead it set up an 86-minute tightrope walk, as City wobbled and stumbled, desperately trying to avoid conceding the equaliser that would risk losing the title to Liverpool, while never quite being good enough to score a second.

And while City agonised over touch and pass, Spurs wore the relaxed looks of a team who had already won the result of their lives on this ground once this week and so were under far less pressure a second time around. Mauricio Pochettino made changes but any team with Christian Eriksen and Heung Min Son in is danger. They terrified City on the break and actually made more chances than they did here on Wednesday. Only Ederson’s anticipation and presence in goal – after a difficult few games – succeeded in keeping them out.

It was a lesson in the little contingent details that determine a football match. On Wednesday City had more chances but could not finish them. Here Spurs will feel that they should have got more from the match. Ultimately bounces and luck explain more than we think about where titles end up.

There was a fleeting sense, when City took the lead after only four minutes, like this might the type of smooth procession to calm nerves that were still frazzled by Wednesday night. Because when the goal came, it was classic City, an angular move they spend their lives perfecting. Bernardo Silva, cutting in from the left, floated a cross up to Sergio Aguero at the back post, he headed it back across goal for Phil Foden to head it home. A vindication of Guardiola going for Foden’s energy in midfield.

And there was plenty of energy about City in that first 15 minutes, maybe even too much. Roared on by a crowd far louder than a normal lunch-time kick off, the players responded in kind, chasing Spurs all over the pitch and jumping into tackles. At times it looked effective, when Spurs were flustered into kicking the ball long or out of play.

There is such a thing as too much energy, too much momentum, especially when that energy becomes nervous. Because City were playing so hard that they forgot to breathe, and stopped creating anything like the cool incisive football they do at their best. And with so many men flying forward, City left themselves desperately open at the back.

Foden scored the all-important goal (REUTERS)

On Wednesday night Spurs scored their first two counters through Heung Min Son, and it took some luck for the same thing not to happen again here. Four times in the first half Spurs got in to those huge gaping spaces in the City defence, gaps both opened up and exploited by the relentless brilliance of Son’s running across the front line. Ederson saved twice from Son and once from Christian Eriksen, while Aymeric Laporte had to make a perfect late tackle on Son to stop him. As if he were making up for his mistakes in midweek.

Every time Spurs attacked the crowd grew more anxious, the positivity built up by Foden’s goal getting chipped away each time. When Kevin De Bruyne limped off after over-extending his left knee hitting a low-percentage chance from distance, the tension only got worse. Especially given that De Bruyne, so good for the last few weeks, felt a new twinge in his knee ligaments, the same injury that ruined the first half of this year. He is unlikely to play again this season.

It continued to feel overwhelmingly like the second half on Wednesday night: City nominally in the driving seat, but only one goal from being unseated, and visibly terrified by the prospect.

The title remains in City's hands (REUTERS) (Reuters)

City needed a second goal to calm themselves down and they started the second half in pursuit of one. Bernardo, again, was the inspiration, driving City forward, always looking for a little opening to squeeze through. But it did not come and for all of City’s desperate appeals for a penalty, there was a far stronger claim at the opposite end, when Kyle Walker ran back to clear and used his arm to knock the ball away from Dele Alli in the box.

Guardiola needed something new, something fresh, because it still felt at this point as if City were drifting towards disaster. So Leroy Sane came on for Aguero, ready to give Juan Foyth a new problem down City’s left. He made an instant difference, crossing for Raheem Sterling, whose close-range shot hit Gazzaniga’s planted foot. It was the type of chance Sterling has scored for fun all season.

So the dynamic remained: City on the tightrope, Spurs trying to push them off. Again Ederson had to come off his line to block from Lucas Moura, a chance that should never have been allowed. Spurs sensed blood, just as they did on Wednesday, and threw on a weapon who can no longer be said to be secret: Fernando Llorente. There was an aerial bombardment, of course, but this time there was no skim off Toby Alderweireld’s head, and no bounce off Llorente’s arm and hip. No equaliser for Spurs, no devastation for City. This time they survived.