EPL 2017/18: Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur - 5 Talking Points

#2 Intense midfield pressing battle

Harry Winks as pushed to his limits by the relentless opposition

Much of the match devolved into a struggle for dominance between the two midfielders with City winning the majority of the duels. This allowed them to build up the pressure in the final third and eventually score. Pochettino opted to have Harry Kane and Son Heung-min stay in front of the City defence rather than come back and aid the team defensively. This disrupted the connection between City's defence and midfield.

Guardiola's team were able to play around this as they were able to play directly through Ederson's precision over long distances. Otamendi also occasionally missed out the midfield with direct balls to the forwards. The midfield was also able to retain possession with Fabian Delph moving up to provide another option and help outnumber the Spurs midfield.

Having Kane and Son up front also gave them a greater chance of taking advantage of counter-attacks or direct play. However, City were able to restrict these opportunities through the intensity of their pressing and counter-pressing which limited the time on the ball for Spurs.

Tottenham were effective at disrupting City for periods with their organised pressing in the midfield, which limited the service to the forwards. The issue for them was that they couldn't keep it up consistently and City started to play around it with deadly results.