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José Mourinho saw Tottenham put on one of their signature performances to secure a 2-0 home win over Manchester City and send a message in the race for the Premier League title.
Half-time counterattack goals from Son Heung-min and substitute Giovani Lo Celso gave Spurs a huge victory despite Pep Guardiola’s men dominating possession in the capital.
The City manager signed a contract extension this week but was unable to toast with three points after his team failed to break the disciplined and organized hosts.
It meant that Mourinho, who celebrated a year at the helm of Tottenham on Friday, once again surpassed his former rival to send North Londoners to the top of the table for at least 24 hours.
Both clubs paid tribute to the late Ray Clemence before kickoff with a minute-long applause, while the Spurs players wore black armbands for their former goalkeeper, who won trophies at White Hart Lane and with Liverpool.
Mourinho had predicted that Raheem Sterling would start for City despite being unavailable for England due to a calf injury, but was only named on the bench where he was joined again by Sergio Agüero.
Without his number seven, Guardiola called Riyad Mahrez while Bernardo Silva came in for Ilkay Gundogan, and yet it was at the other end of the field that family problems reared their ugly heads.
Barely five minutes had elapsed when Tanguy Ndombele hit a pass in the path of Son, who ran into the space vacated by Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias and landed in the legs of the attacking Ederson for his ninth league goal of the season.
It was a poor lapse of concentration for the visitors, who disconnected and then weren’t close enough to the fit South Korean.
City could have tied with nine on the clock, but Toby Alderweireld impressively denied Gabriel Jesus inside the box before the Brazilian inadvertently blocked a goal shot from captain Kevin De Bruyne.
The ball went back into the visiting net in the 13th minute; however, Kane had drifted into an offside position after a disinterested pass from Son.
Spurs were happy that City controlled possession with Mourinho watching his team produce the kind of disciplined display that has become their trademark.
A momentary drop in focus was all that Guardiola’s team needed and they figured he came in with 27 on the clock.
A Rodri cross into the area passed through Jesús, who mounted the unmarked Laporte and the French defender passed Hugo Lloris inside the area to make it 1-1.
No one had picked up the center-back, but Tottenham was saved by the court monitor after the VAR recommended Mike Dean to use the technology to check if Jesus had used his arm to control the ball and City’s number nine had. duly.
The away team’s frustration was visible at halftime, and although Mahrez tested Lloris early in the second period, it was routine for the Spurs captain.
Eric Dier and Alderweireld produced timely interventions at the hour mark in the face of relentless pressure before Mourinho replaced the excellent Ndombele with Lo Celso in the 65th minute.
It was an inspired change with the Argentine scoring 35 seconds after his arrival from another assist from Kane.
Alderweireld found the England captain in midfield, who saw that Lo Celso had escaped De Bruyne and after the substitute tapped into the box, headed towards the corner for his first Premier League goal.
Mourinho was able to celebrate another masterstroke and Tottenham came close to a major victory.
Guardiola responded by introducing England duo Sterling and Phil Foden, but the closest they got was when Lloris produced a point-blank save from a Dias header.
Not all was positive for Spurs, who saw Alderweireld walk off the court with an injury nine minutes from time, but replaced Chelsea at the top and extended their unbeaten streak in the league to eight games.
For City, despite a game in hand, they are now behind the leaders by eight points and continue without a clinical advantage on both boxes.
Full match details
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