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Premier League: City defeats Spurs to reclaim the top four as Haaland scores on his comeback

Rekha Prajapati February 27, 2025 02:27 PM

February 27, London Erling Haaland scored the lone goal as Manchester City defeated Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 on the road on Thursday (IST), increasing their chances of finishing in the top four.

Chelsea’s 4-0 victory over Southampton on Tuesday knocked City out of the top four, while Sunday’s defeat to Liverpool left the Premier League winners from the previous season 20 points behind the leaders.

However, Pep Guardiola’s team put on a strong first half display in north London, which paid off when Haaland scored his 20th Premier League goal of the year with a tap-home strike after returning from injury.

According to Premier League sources, he became only the second player to accomplish that total in each of his first three seasons in the league, after Ruud van Nistelrooy, who did it for Manchester United from 2001–02 to 2003–04.

After sweeping past Guglielmo Vicario in the last seconds, Haaland even believed he had placed the cherry on top, but the shot was disallowed for handball instead.

The hosts improved after the interval, forcing City to battle hard for a clean sheet and the three points when they might have put the game out of sight in the first half.

With 11 games left, the hard-fought victory puts City back into the Premier League’s top four, while Spurs remain in 13th place with 33 points.

“In the first, we performed better, and in the second, they performed better. 1-0, 2-0, and 3-0, which ought to have occurred according to the opportunities. We should have closed it in the first half, but we suffer in the second. But it was a very wonderful outcome for us in terms of qualifying for the Champions League,” Guardiola said.

Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou said after the defeat: “We had to persevere in the first half, created a few opportunities, but we wasted the ball.” We controlled every aspect of the game in the second half, but we were unable to score a goal to win it. We knew we would finish well, and we usually do, but we gave up the ball too often in the first half, which gives City the opportunity to establish a rhythm.”