Jose Mourinho and his Tottenham brigade delivered a statement of intent in their Premier a league title pursuit by defeating Manchester City at home on Saturday. The Portuguese tactician's men staged a top-class performance to condemn Pep Guardiola's men to a 2-0 defeat as they ascended the top of the table for the first time.
The game which was tipped to be keenly contested lived up to the narrative as both sides consistently pushed to get the upper hand. Needless to say, it was Tottenham who quickly assumed the driving seat with Heung-min Son breaking away and latching onto Tanguy Ndombele's pass for the opener. In effect, the Frenchman took his assist tally in the premiership to three, with all of them coming against Manchester City. As a result, he became the first player since Davide Santon to manage the feat against the same club.
Heung. Min. SON!
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) November 21, 2020
What a finish from Sonny. #MyPLMorning pic.twitter.com/0zucaqQytK
A switch in tactics saw Jose Mourinho replacing Ndombele with Giovanni Lo Celso in the 65th minutes. 35 seconds later, the Argentine converted Spurs' second of the night with his first touch for his first Premier League goal. The goal was the second quickest-ever scored in the history of the competition with Bernardo Silva's goal against Brighton in 2019 after being on the field for 17 seconds being the fastest ever.
INSTANT IMPACT
— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) November 21, 2020
Lo Celso gets subbed on and within the minute is on the scoresheet for Spurs! #MyPLMorning pic.twitter.com/yDfj8wLOJ9
Meanwhile, the 2-0 scoreline meant that for the first time ever Jose Mourinho has won back-to-back games against a team managed by Pep Guardiola. The Portuguese manager's side defeated the Etihad outfit by the same scoreline in their reverse matchup at the same venue last season having played out a 2-2 draw in the earlier part of the season.
1985 - Tottenham will finish a day top of the Premier League table for the first time since August 2014, while it's the first time they've ended the day top of the top-flight this far into a campaign since January 1985 (23 games). Nosebleed. pic.twitter.com/7Wy506VowC
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) November 21, 2020