On Saturday morning, I had started the draft for the Everton game with the title, Everton Preview: Beware of Satanball, but I decided to go join them frustrating long queues for fuel. To make things worse, there was some marathon in Lagos, so most of the roads were blocked, leaving me with no choice but to stream the Everton vs Arsenal game on my phone, and we all know how it panned out – Satanball prevailed.
This meant that Arsenal’s lead at the top of the table was potentially going to be cut down to two points if Man City got a good result against the same Spurs side that they battered some 17 days ago. I remember watching that City vs Spurs game at the Etihad, I was elated when Antonio Conte’s side went two up, but I just had a feeling that they were going to bottle it, as they always do. They didn’t fail to disappoint as Pep Guardiola’s side ran riot in the second half, smashing four goals past the Lilywhites.
Yesterday was different though. For some strange reason, Man City’s record at Spurs’ home ground has been downright pathetic – five losses from five games, without any goal scored, which is shocking for a team of Man City’s caliber and talent at their disposal. So when Tottenham got that early goal from Harry Kane, which turned to smash a host of records or some shit like that, I thought about the Man City record away at Spurs and was hoping for history to repeat itself.
There was the Riyad Mahrez curler that clipped the cross bar, as well as the Cristian Romero red card that put the home side on the backfoot, but Spurs held on for a vital win that has put them in touching distance with the Top four, after Newcastle had yet another draw. That’s 10 draws in 21 games for the Magpies, which will certainly dent their Champions League qualification ambitions and aspirations.
That Man City loss courtesy of the Harry Kane goal puts them five points behind Arsenal, which makes the clash between both sides in mid-February monumental. Man City have certainly lost that aura of invincibility they used to have and when Arsenal visited the Etihad in the FA Cup, the gulf in quality between both sides had changed. It’s not like they are equals per se, but the Gunners are in a way better place than they were last season, and they can go into their home game against Man City with some measure of confidence.
However, the Gunners can’t afford to have any more blips like this, and all hands are on deck for the Brentford game at home before Man City come to town.
Many thanks to Harry Kane, for doing it for all of North London.
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