Manchester City opened their Premier League season with a defeat on Sunday. Tottenham Hotspur was 1-0 too strong for the reigning champions of England in London, due to a goal from Heung-Min Son shortly after the break. Steven Bergwijn played 77 minutes at the Spurs and provided the assist for the only goal of the game, but also missed a life-size chance of a goal.
Before the duel, it was mainly about Harry Kane. The Tottenham captain has been explicitly linked in recent weeks with a switch to Manchester City, which would prepare a 150 million euro offer. Kane reported back to training for the first time after his holiday a week ago and is now said to have been ‘not match fit’, meaning he was not part of the match selection. Partly because of this, Bergwijn had a basic place in an attack with Son and Lucas Moura. Nathan Ake was kicked off at Manchester City, as was Jack Grealish. It was the first starting place for the midfielder who came over from Aston Villa for 117 million euros.
SOOOOO! ??
Tottenham’s fast vanguard with Bergwijn, Lucas and Son is life-threatening on the counter ???????Bergwijn serves Son and the South Korean rounds off great, 1-0 Spurs! ??#ZiggoSport #PremierLeague #TOTMCI pic.twitter.com/fLBsAQP4RB
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) August 15, 2021
The game went back and forth in the first half. Tottenham initially tried to keep Manchester City at a distance, but gradually the first company crawled out of its shell. Lucas Moura, for example, saw a bet taken off the line after a corner by Ilkay Gündogan, while Son also showed himself on behalf of the home team before half-time. The South Korean attacker’s shot from the edge of the penalty area, however, went just wide. The biggest chance of the first half, however, was for Manchester City, when Riyad Mahrez emerged completely free at the penalty spot. However, he was unable to get a shot on target.
Shortly after the break, Tottenham broke open the game. Bergwijn took the ball after a corner kick that had been deflected and passed the ball to Son. He dribbled in from the right side of the field and found the far corner with his left leg, behind Ederson. Barely five minutes later, Tottenham had a golden opportunity to double the margin. Moura sent Bergwijn away, after which the Dutch attacker shot the ball eye to eye with Ederson with the left past the wrong side of the post.
In the remainder of the second half, Manchester City struggled to create opportunities. With fifteen minutes left on the clock, the visitors were close when goalkeeper Hugo Lloris prevented a goal from Grealish. Manchester City emphasized in the final phase, which resulted in opportunities for Ferran Torres and Kevin De Bruyne. Tottenham held on, however, and took the minimal win over the line. For the Spurs now awaits a meeting with Wolverhampton Wanderers next week, while Manchester City will then receive a visit from Norwich City.