Tottenham Hotspur secured a 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad and on the face of it is a great result.
However, the scoreline does not tell the story of the match, and in fact, it probably reveals the gap between the two.
City dominated possession for the majority of the game ending up with 56%, but at one point in the first half, they had 74%.
Now possession does not really matter as it depends what the team does with the ball, but should Tottenham’s supposed title contenders only have a 26% share of the ball for a period of time?
No is the answer.
City had a staggering 30 shots at goal ten of which were on target – Spurs, on the other hand, had three shots.
Two of these ended up as goals – now you could say it was clinical finishing and that they executed Mauricio Pochettino’s game plan, but they were comfortably outplayed for the entire match.
Spurs had Hugo Lloris in sublime form, and he is the reason that they ended up with a point. Christian Eriksen was hopeless, especially tracking Kevin de Brunye – who got away from him twice to provide two assists.
Tottenham also have to thank VAR and the new handball law – which will now rule out any goal if the ball comes off an attacker’s hand even if it is accidental.
In this case, the ball skimmed Aymeric Laporte’s arm dropped to Gabriel Jesus, and he buried the ball.
VAR then had a look and Spurs survived. It is early in the season and Tottenham were missing one of their new signings and also Heung Min Son but Pochettino must be worried that they were dominated for the whole game.
Spurs are arguably title challengers this year, but this match just proved how far ahead City are – the result should not mask the obvious gap.
