Spurs go past wasteful City

Tottenham Hotspur ensured they scored from the only chances they had against a wasteful Manchester City in a game that also brought the VAR system into further scrutiny. Spurs manager Jose Mourinho was particularly unhappy with the tackle on Dele Alli by Raheem Sterling and also on the decision to give City a delayed penalty two minutes after a questionable foul by Serge Aurier on City player Sergio Aguero. Mourinho said: “It was a wrong decision, Sterling’s was a direct red card — they decided to go against the rules of the game to favour the spectacle.” The penalty was saved but Sterling dived running across the goalkeepers outstretched arm and after a six minutes melee it was decided by VAR that there was not a case for the penalty to be retaken. On Sterling not being given a red card for his earlier foul on Alli, Mourinho said: “For the majority of the game it was 11 (players) v 11 but it should have been 11 against 10 since that very, very nasty tackle. City were very lucky. If Sterling was out after a few minutes there were no chances and more chances for us.” He acknowledged that referees have a difficult job “but the problem is the VAR”. He added: “I love football and I thought I was going to love VAR, that was my initial belief. I like the truth so when we are talking about waiting three minutes before the VAR gives a penalty, if it is a penalty, no problem.” Victory lifts Spurs up to fifth, just four points off fourth-placed Chelsea. Manchester City had long spells during which they put pressure on Spurs but wasted chances to score. They had 18 shots on target while Spurs had three and scored twice. Aguero missed an open goal, shooting wide, in first-half injury time and so did Ilkay Gundogan. City were down to 10 players after Alex Zinchenko was sent off with a second yellow card when he fouled Harry Winks to stop a Spurs clear break. Three minutes later in the 63rd minute, Spurs scored. Steven Bergwijn, the 27 million euro signing last week from PSV Eindhoven, chested down a Lucas Moura pass, swivelled and fired home a low volley. Eight minutes later, Heung-Min Son hit a firm shot into the net from a pass by Tanguy Ndombele to make it 2-0. Bergwijn said: “A dream for me that’s come true and I’m so happy to be here. As a little kid you want to play in the Premier League, and if you score on your debut it’s unbelievable.” Mourinho spoke about him: “He arrived on Tuesday and worked hard during the week to understand as fast as possible what we wanted from him. He is very intelligent, humble. It was a good goal and a very solid performance against such a difficult opponent.” City coach, Pep Guardiola, who took 55 minutes to emerge from the dressing room to speak to the waiting media, said: “I don’t have too many things to say. Was it one of those days? You could say, but it’s happened before too, against United (Manchester) we lost 1-0 after we created I don’t know how many chances.” Last season’s Premier League winners, City, are 22 points adrift of the current leaders, Liverpool. Guardiola added; “They are far away, so they are unstoppable. They have a lot of points, we have dropped points quite similar to today. Our targets are to win the remaining competitions and qualify for the Champions League next season.”