Manchester City produced a stunning comeback to record a monumental victory against Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday night.
During what was a cagey first half, it was Spurs who capitalised on two poor errors from City as the clock ticked towards half-time.
Dejan Kulusevski was gifted the ball after a poor pass from Rodri, the Swedish winger then cooly slotted the ball past City goalkeeper Ederson.
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A minute later Spurs made it 2-0 with Emerson Royal scrambling the ball home. City players looked stunned as they trotted off to a chorus of boos by the disgruntled home crowd after the half-time whistle.
However, in the second half, Pep Guardiola’s side came out a different team and hit back straight away.
Julian Alvarez slammed home to make it 2-1 after a piece of questionable goalkeeping by Spurs captain Hugo Lloris.
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Two minutes later the home side were level thanks to Erling Haaland, who managed to head the ball in to score his first goal of 2023.
The mood inside the Etihad Stadium has been changed drastically in a matter of minutes as City continued to push for the go-ahead goal.
Eventually, the spectacular comeback was completed courtesy of Riyad Mahrez, who managed to squeeze the ball past Lloris at the near post. From 2-0 down, City found themselves 3-2 up with half an hour left to play.
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Mahrez added a fourth with 89 minutes on the clock to secure a vitally important 4-2 victory as City cut the gap between themselves and league leaders Arsenal to five points.
Earlier in the week, Guardiola spoke about his team’s recent struggles as they look to chase down league leaders Arsenal.
He said: “People wonder why City are not top of the league, but it happens.
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“There is a team who has been fantastic so far and this is not a problem, it is accepted that the other team is better, but what do we have to do?
“The only way, is not waiting what they are going to do, try to win our games and play even better. I do not think it is about mentality because you see the game against United and the previous one against Chelsea (a 1-0 win). We did really, really well.
“People do not wait, they expect me to find a way to win games. Otherwise, it's 'Pep Out', this is how our jobs work and I want 'Pep In' and to stay here.”
City will take on Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday before Arsenal host Manchester United later that afternoon.
Featured Image Credit: Sky SportsTopics: Manchester City, Tottenham Hotspur, Football, Premier League
