Top 10 iconic Tottenham Hotspur games of the decade (2010-2019)

#6 Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 Manchester City, Premier League – 2 October, 2016

Dele Alli scored Tottenham's second goal in a big 2-0 win over Pep Guardiola's Manchester City

Mauricio Pochettino’s young Spurs side had pushed for an unlikely title win in 2015-16, but fell by the wayside at the last hurdle as Leicester City claimed the crown, and in a final insult, Spurs ended up 3rd, also behind their bitter rivals Arsenal. 2016-17 though saw them bounce back in style, finishing second behind Chelsea with their best-ever Premier League points tally.

Perhaps their best performance that season came in October, as they welcomed Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to White Hart Lane. Guardiola’s side had won all 6 of his opening Premier League matches with the Citizens, but saw his side out-fought and out-thought by Pochettino’s team in this game.

Even without Harry Kane, Tottenham looked like a team possessed, flying out of the blocks and pressing Guardiola’s men, preventing them from utilising their usual possession-based, short-passing game. Holding midfielder Victor Wanyama in particular was fantastic, seemingly covering every blade of grass and launching himself into tackle after tackle.

Tottenham opened the scoring through an unfortunate own goal from Aleksandar Kolarov on 9 minutes, and 8 minutes before half-time they doubled their lead through a calm finish from Dele Alli. City were shellshocked and despite having 6 shots on target, drew a blank for the first time under Guardiola. Spurs even managed to afford to miss a penalty – Erik Lamela’s kick saved by Claudio Bravo – but in the end it didn’t matter, this was a landmark victory for Pochettino’s men.