Manchester City move towards Premier League title after Haaland sank Spurs | first division

Is there a safer bet in football than Pep Guardiola? city ​​of manchester Are they doing what they have to do (in other words, win and keep winning) when the Premier League title is within their reach?

On the three previous occasions they have been involved in close races down the line under Guardiola (the margin for error is slim to non-existent) they have never slipped. His winning sequences have been long and devastating. Here we are again: City are closing in on yet another title, a sixth in total under Guardiola, and this victory is their eighth in a row when the pressure is most acute.

For one night only, everyone connected with Arsenal had become a Spurs fan. They were desperate for their hated rivals to do some good neighborliness. Any kind of result for Spurs would have put Arsenal in charge of the race heading into the final day on Sunday.

It didn't happen because things aren't like that with City, no matter how close they came in the final stages, no matter how unbearable it must have been for Arsenal to watch. Because with City leading thanks to a goal from Erling Haaland, Spurs had the chance to equalize.

Stefan Ortega was City's unexpected hero. As a substitute for the injured Ederson, the goalkeeper made a great block to deny Spurs substitute Dejan Kulusevski. But that was overcome in the 86th minute when Brennan Johnson robbed Manuel Akanji and sent Son Heung-min cleanly through. Once again, while North London held its breath for so many reasons, Ortega made the save. Guardiola fell to the ground in his technical area.

City had survived and would enjoy a quiet ending when Haaland scored 2-0 from a penalty after Pedro Porro fouled another substitute, Jérémy Doku. City will surely win again when they beat West Ham on Sunday.

In north London there was only one pre-match topic, a question for Spurs fans. Who did they support? Which was incredibly strange, given that they were aiming to finish the Champions League, and completely logical because, well, it's Arsenal.

How would any non-Spurs support be shown by Spurs support? And is it even possible to achieve consensus among a group of 60,000 people? If you look for some point of view within a fanbase, you'll probably find it. There was a feeling that everyone in the home seats could support. “Stand up if you hate Arsenal,” the chant went. They stopped.

Guardiola needed time to fix things because Ange Postecoglou surprised with his tactics, although the emphasis on attack, on leaving gaps behind, remained; Take risks.

Postecoglou, without eight injured players, including three left-backs, had asked Micky van de Ven to move from central defense to fill the problematic position. He also started a new midfield, with his attackers, Johnson and Son, up and out. Who said he didn't have a plan B?

It was interesting, Pape Sarr and James Maddison leading the press in the central areas, also with a lot of rotation, with Pierre-Emile Højbjerg and Rodrigo Bentancur behind them. Porro got up and crossed, as usual, from the right side.

The atmosphere in the first half was best described as calm. Perhaps the home fans were simply trying to absorb what Postecoglou was doing. It was impossible to say that it didn't work until the interval.

It looked like City would be able to find space, especially on the right wing; in the areas that Van de Ven had been asked to cover. Kyle Walker had galloped there several times earlier in the race. Other City players' eyes lit up as they looked.

City had their moments in the first half, even if some of them came close, but not quite, to finding the killer pass. Phil Foden volleyed from a Højbjerg cut-back and was brilliantly saved by Guglielmo Vicario; Josko Gvardiol volleyed in from a difficult angle.

On the stroke of half-time, Radu Dragusin celebrated wildly after heading in Bernardo Silva's shot after Van de Ven had blocked Haaland. The flag was raised for offside against Foden in the build-up. It was in VAR territory.

City made mistakes on the ball, some unusual ones that added to the strange vibe and Spurs had a few blips, the biggest coming early on when Johnson fed Bentancur after a beautiful diagonal from Højbjerg. Bentancur's shot was touched by Ederson. There were times when the Spurs had men but couldn't connect the dots.

It seemed that City lingered a little longer in their meeting on the pitch before the start of the second half and it was not difficult to imagine what was said. The season was at stake. They needed to play with greater intensity.

It was evident from the restart, Kevin De Bruyne fully extending Vicario after Spurs lost the ball trying to build from the back. The home team almost took the lead when Son met a low cross from Johnson, trying to finish past Ederson, only for the goalkeeper to close the gap. Then City did it.

Foden made it happen, winning the ball and breaking away down the left before crossing. The ball reached the other side, where Silva rose and made way for De Bruyne. The spurs were stretched. De Bruyne crossed low, Haaland made his move and scored. “Are you watching Arsenal?” chanted Spurs fans. The television cameras captured two of them doing the Poznan, City style.

The tension simmered. Bentancur was incandescent when he was replaced by Kulusevski, taking out his frustration on the seats in the technical area. The same thing happened with Ederson when he was forced to retire with a head injury after Cristian Romero hit him. Then came Ortega and how he would make a difference.