Premier League 2018/19: 3 reasons why Tottenham lost to Manchester City

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City exacted revenge on Tottenham Hotspur for their elimination from the UEFA Champions League with a 1-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday in the Premier League. They were by far the better side and thoroughly deserved to win. A Phil Foden goal via a Sergio Aguero assist was the lone goal that stood between the two sides.

Mauricio Pochettino's men were hit by a lot of injuries but they tried their best to stop City's attack. However, sadly, in the end, they couldn't.

We pick out three reasons why Tottenham lost to Manchester City on Saturday.

1) Close marking of Heung Min Son by Manchester City defenders

Heung Min Son was closely marked by Aymeric Laporte on Saturday

Heung Min Son, in Harry Kane's absence, has made the centre-forward spot his own in the Spurs lineup and is someone who has troubled Manchester City a lot in the recent past. He scored the lone goal for his side in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal and grabbed a brace in the second.

However, on Saturday, he was marked closely by Manchester City defenders Aymeric Laporte and John Stones and made it extremely difficult for the South Korean to get space ahead of him. Son likes to link-up play with Lucas Moura but was unable to create his tricks on Saturday.

2) Poor performances by central holding midfielders

Dele Alli, who played in the central midfielder's position, was good only in patches.

Although conceding that injuries have hit Mauricio Pochettino's team hard and that Eric Dier was rushed into this game despite not be fully fit, both the aforementioned player and Dele Alli (who, strangely, played in the holding midfielder's position) were extremely poor and gave the ball away on regular occasions to the home side.

Pochettino brought on Victor Wanyama for Dier in the 60th minute of the game to control the damage done but then it was too late, and the Kenya international too didn't have a great thirty minutes either.

3) Strange team selections

Strangely, Juan Foyth played at right wingback on Saturday.

Mauricio Pochettino made some strange selections in his team for their trip to the Etihad Stadium on Saturday. He chose to play young central defender Juan Foyth at right wingback when Kyle Walker Peters was available. Also, Oliver Skipp was warming the bench for Spurs even as Dele Alli played in the holding midfielder's position.

Surely, one of these decisions tilted the game in City's favour as Pep Guardiola's men were able to make the most out of empty spaces in Spurs' defence and work the inexperience of these players to their advantage.