Man City had to share points with Tottenham despite leading by two goals

The 2-2 draw at home caused Pep Guardiola's team to miss the opportunity to equalize points with their opponents and Liverpool.

Hugo Lloris made a mistake that led to Tottenham's two goals. Photo: Reuters.

Goals: Sane (49'), De Bruyne (54'), Alli (58'), Son Heung-min (78')

Two errors by goalkeeper Hugo Lloris gave Man City a comfortable lead. However, Guardiola's team could not withstand the pressure of their opponents in the final 35 minutes of the match. The match was filled with controversial situations and the referee made serious wrong decisions, affecting the final result.

Man City started well and pressed their opponents in the first half. This initiative was shown through the opportunities Kevin De Bruyne created for Pablo Zabaleta and Nicolas Otamendi in the first 15 minutes of the match. In the 20th minute, Lloris blocked a low shot from David Silva, this was the first dangerous situation of the match.

From the 30th minute onwards, Man City put a lot of pressure on Lloris' goal. However, the French goalkeeper and Tottenham's defenders had a good first half. According to statistics agency Opta, Harry Kane and Dele Alli, Tottenham's two attackers, had only 11 touches in the first half, the fewest compared to other players. As for Man City, Guardiola should probably work on his players' ability to take advantage of opportunities, something he complained about after the loss to Everton.

De Bruyne increased the score to 2-0 for Man City, leaving Lloris and Tottenham defenders stunned. Photo: Reuters.

The first half ended in a 0-0 draw, leaving many Man City fans disappointed. But just four minutes into the second half, they had a chance to celebrate when Leroy Sane opened the scoring. The goal came from a sharp long pass from De Bruyne, but that was only necessary, Hugo Lloris's elementary mistake was sufficient. The French goalkeeper rushed out to head the ball away, even though when he touched the ball, the situation took place in the penalty area. The ball from Lloris' head hit Sane's hand and the German midfielder easily put the ball into the empty net.

Five minutes later, things got even worse for Lloris when his mishit from Raheem Sterling’s cross allowed De Bruyne to score another easy goal. The sight of the incident left manager Mauricio Pochettino stunned. Even a goalkeeper as experienced as Lloris, captain of Tottenham and France, can be mentally drained after making a mistake.

But his teammates in attack saved Lloris from the tragedy of becoming the culprit for his team's defeat. After conceding two goals, Tottenham pressed the field and once again showed everyone how scary they were when they decided to go all out. In the 58th minute, Dele Alli received a cross from Kyle Walker and headed in a goal. A simple but effective combination from Tottenham.

Sterling was pushed from behind by Walker when he shot in the penalty area but the referee did not blow the whistle. Photo: Reuters.

In the 78th minute, Son Heung-min equalized 2-2 with a tricky one-touch shot in the penalty area. The person who passed the ball to him, Harry Kane, was offside but the referee did not blow the whistle. However, that was probably not the situation that made referee Andre Marriner's name mentioned after the match.

Two minutes before Tottenham equalized, Raheem Sterling had a great chance to score. However, defender Kyle Walker used his hand to push him from behind, making the former Liverpool player's shot harmless to Lloris. Witnessing this situation, a number of experts including former referee Howard Webb, former striker Thierry Henry, former player Gary Lineker, all said that it should have been a penalty and even added a red card to Walker.

In the 82nd minute, Guardiola brought in new signing Gabriel Jesus, the Brazilian striker's first match for Man City. Immediately after entering the field, Jesus continuously created dangerous situations and even put the ball into Tottenham's net but the goal was disallowed due to offside.

The draw between Man City and Tottenham, Liverpool losing to Swansea, Man Utd drawing with Stoke will be an opportunity for Arsenal and Chelsea to break away. Early morning on February 1 (Hanoi time), Tottenham will visit Sunderland in round 23. A day later, Man City will visit West Ham.

According to VNE