Guardiola broke the curse! Manchester City won at Tottenham for the first time

Manchester City won their FA Cup fourth round match at Tottenham with a goal from the end 1:0. Spurs didn’t have a single big chance in the match. So Pep Guardiola won for the first time ever at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The favourite entered the match actively, in the third minute Phil Foden shot. But only into the gloves of the home goalkeeper. Two minutes later Manchester celebrated, but Oscar Bobb’s shot could not stand due to offside.

In an intense opening quarter of an hour, Bernardo Silva, Mateo Kovacic and Julian Alvarez fired. But the first two attempts were blocked by the home defence and the last one was caught by Italian goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

The rest of the opening half was very imprecise from the Citizens, with Kovacic’s shot again being knocked down by the stoppers. Blocks by Tottenham defenders saved the day, with another one in the 41st minute preventing young Bobb from scoring from inside the whitewash.

An inaccurate finish by Foden closed the first half and the game was scoreless. Right after the change of sides, Alvarez had a great opportunity. But the ball was again knocked out of the net only at the last moment by a slip by one of Tottenham’s players.

In the second half, Manchester City did score the goal they wanted

The second half also saw two of the mainstays of the midfield come on the pitch after injuries. The home side’s James Maddison and the away side’s Kevin de Bruyne. Manchester still had another chance in the 81st minute. But Silva hit just the centre of the goal in a good position.

A minute later, de Bruyne could have made the difference in the league just like two weeks ago. But he narrowly missed the left post. The favourite’s pressure increased, with Jeremy Doku shooting in the 86th minute, but Vicario was on the ground in time for his attempt to the left post.

The Citizens did get a goal after all, Nathan Aké got on the end of a corner kick and already had an easy job. Manchester handled the stoppage time expertly after that, basically keeping the ball in the attacking half the whole time.

Source: FA Cup