Manchester City 4-1 Tottenham: 5 talking points

#3 Dele Alli and Harry Kane avoid certain red cards

Dele was lucky to stay on the pitch

At the Etihad, Tottenham were bruised, battered and embarrassed. From the very first minute, Mauricio Pochettino’s men didn’t really stand a chance and that realisation slowly began to sink in as the game went on. With that realisation came a burning sense of frustration within the Tottenham players, this was blatantly shown by their two key payers.

Both Harry Kane and Dele Alli should have been given straight reds for two equally dangerous challenges. The first atrocity was committed by Harry Kane, as he planted a high foot just above the ankle on Raheem Sterling. Luckily for him, the referee had his back to the situation and could only give a yellow card based on the uproar of the stadium.

However, there was no excuse for the second crime, a crime committed by Dele Alli. The 21-year-old left a crunching studs-up challenge on Kevin De Bruyne, leaving the Belgian in a heap of pain. Funnily enough, De Bruyne responded by scoring a game-winning goal a few minutes later. Talk about standing up in the face of adversity.