Thomas Frank’s excellent start to life as Tottenham manager continued as they claimed a superb 2-0 win at Manchester City.
City had the look of likely title contenders once again in their season-opening 4-0 win at Wolves, while Tottenham dispatched of Burnley in Frank’s first Premier League game in charge.
But it was Tottenham who maintained the momentum with an outstanding display at the Etihad Stadium, Brennan Johnson putting them in front in the 35th minute before Joao Palhinha pounced on a dreadful error from goalkeeper James Trafford in first-half stoppage time to double Spurs’ advantage.
City huffed and puffed without putting the Tottenham goal under any significant threat, the visitors ultimately cruising to victory to leave Pep Guardiola and City with plenty to ponder following an unexpected early setback.
Manchester City v Tottenham
Omar Marmoush saw several chances to give City a first-half lead go begging, the first coming in the 10th minute as he rolled the ball across the face of goal and narrowly wide after a defensive error by Pedro Porro.
The Egyptian was twice denied by Guglielmo Vicario, drawing a smart stop from the Italian from 20 yards before the Tottenham goalkeeper got down low to thwart Marmoush again following a clever throughball from Erling Haaland.
Left-back Rayan At-Nouri limped off in the interim between Marmoush’s second and third opportunities, and Tottenham capitalised on his exit as they found joy down the City left to break the deadlock.
Mohammed Kudus flicked a long ball into the path of Richarlison, and the Brazilian’s low cross from the right was emphatically dispatched by Johnson as his finish proved too powerful for Trafford.
Johnson’s goal was initially ruled out for offside against Richarlison, but VAR overturned that decision.
While it would be harsh to blame Trafford for Tottenham’s opener, he was undeniably at fault for their second, though he was put in a difficult position by Nico Gonzalez’s pass as City attempted to play out from the back.
Trafford’s pass was intercepted as Pape Sarr’s pressing saw the ball diverted to Richarlison. Trafford attempted to recover, but the ball fell into the path of Palhinha, whose close-range effort was deflected home.
Erling Haaland wasted a gilt-edged chance to pull a goal back before half-time when he headed over from Rayan Cherki’s cross and, though City were improved after the break, similar opportunities proved difficult to come by against an impressive Tottenham rearguard.
Ruben Dias and substitutes Rodri and Bernardo Silva all went close with headers, but none had Vicario concerned, and it required a late double save from Trafford to deny Dominic Solanke and Wilson Odobert and prevent Tottenham from making a remarkably comfortable win more emphatic as they moved top of the embryonic Premier League table.
