Guardiola’s men come back after two goals and win on a crazy night at the Etihad Stadium
Man City made a brilliant comeback against Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad after the break with four goals.
The hosts were unsettled as Tottenham scored twice through Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal just before the break.
Pep Guardiola’s side faced the prospect of falling behind leaders Arsenal but bounced back after the break.
Julián Álvarez reduced the deficit and Erling Haaland restored par with his first goal in four games before the influential Mahrez sealed the win with a brace.
The comeback saved City from a third straight defeat in all competitions and likely left Arsenal lamenting their rivals’ inability to give the champions another chance.
Manager Guardiola has reacted to City’s recent troubles, including Saturday’s derby defeat by Manchester United, by shaking up his squad.
Surprisingly, Kevin De Bruyne was named among the substitutes, while world champion Álvarez was given a rare opportunity to start in the same team as Haaland.
City lacked momentum without De Bruyne but the control they exercised in the first half was such that they ended up leading 2-0.
Mahrez takes a free kick off the wall, Ilkay Gundogan misses the target and Álvarez is blocked. Rodri was also covered on the edge of the box and Hugo Lloris made a good save from a deflected shot by impressive youngster Rico Lewis.
Haaland was calm but still had a good chance that Lloris squandered after another challenge in the penalty area.
Tottenham posed a threat, however, and only a crucial header from Nathan Ake prevented Kane from firing home when Son Heung-min headed past Ederson.
The visitors opened the scoring when Ederson worried Rodri with a poor pass and Kulusevski netted after pressure from Rodrigo Bentancur.
City barely had time to calm down before conceding again, Ederson missing again as he connected a cross from Kane with Emerson simply turning on goal.
City were booed by a small segment of fans on their way to the dressing room, but their reaction was remarkable.
Mahrez took control and after his cross into the box caused a scrum, Álvarez lobbed the ball into the top of the net to close the gap six minutes after the restart.
Mahrez was involved again as City equalized two minutes later. This time, the Algerian winger headed in Haaland’s 28th goal of the season from close range.
Tottenham tried to react and were unlucky when Ivan Perisic’s shot was deflected off Lewis onto the crossbar, but they generally struggled to contain City.
They were canceled out by Mahrez as he turned Perisic and sped into the box to fire a low shot past Lloris’ legs to put City ahead.
Tottenham kept pressing but were unable to get back into the game and Mahrez leveled the points later after capitalizing on a Clement Lenglet error to score.
Lineups:
Ederson, Lewis (Walker 83), Akanji, Stones, Ake, Gundogan (Silva 81), Rodri, Grealish, Mahrez, Haaland (Dias 90+1), Alvarez
Subs not used: Ortega, Phillips, Cancelo, Laporte, De Bruyne, Foden
Tottenham (3-4-3):
Lloris , Romero, Dier, Davies (Lenglet 78), Royal (Richarlison 78), Hojbjerg, Bentancur (Bissouma 75), Perisic (Sessegnon 69), Kulusevski, Kane, Son.
Subs not used: Forster, Doherty, Sanchez, Tanganga, Sarr
Scorers:
Bookings:
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