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For the better part of an hour here at the Etihad, it seemed to be a good night for Tottenham and an even better one for Arsenal.
Spurs were leading 2-0 against the grain of the game and Manchester City’s hopes of catching the Gunners at the top of the Premier League looked more desperate than ever.
Five days after losing the Manchester derby, Pep Guardiola was facing three straight defeats for the third time in his career.
Tottenham, on the other hand, had bounced back from their comprehensive defeat to Arsenal in the North London derby and were suddenly on course for an unlikely win thanks to goals from Dejan Kulusevski and Emerson Royal.
God knows what Guardiola said – or did – at half-time with the opprobrium of the City fans still ringing in their ears, but City came out into the second half like a team possessed.
Julián Alavrez pulled one back and Erling Haaland ended a run of three games without scoring by heading in against City. Riyad Mahrez then completed a stunning turnaround by scoring a third goal in the space of 13 minutes.
You could almost imagine Arsenal’s celebrations failing. His lead at the top is once again eight points. They may have a game to play but it’s pretty clear City won’t give up their title without putting up a big fight.
Both managers reacted to their derby losses at the weekend by making changes; four for Conte and five for Guardiola, who started Haaland and Julián Álvarez together for the second time in the league.
“We need more presence in the last third, close to Erling,” said the City manager, who bristled at questions about Haaland’s role before kick-off.
‘Why? Why did United continue man to man, in the pockets, denying space? Against Tottenham that will not happen.
Just because they were too busy kicking Alvarez. Twice in the first 12 minutes, Ben Davies brought down the World Cup winner, but Riyad Mahrez squandered the chance to test Hugo Lloris’s fragile form when he fired a free-kick on the edge of the box right into the Tottenham wall. .
As Jack Grealish sliced the ball for Álvarez to try his luck through a crowded goal, Eric Dier got in the way of the shot to block.
Indeed, it was Mahrez who was the first to receive referee Simon Hooper’s penalty for a foul on Dejan Kulusevski, quickly followed by Cristian Romero and Pierre-Emile Hobjerg, who left a foot inside on Rico Lewis as retribution for an earlier clash between both of them.
There was no shortage of attacks. Jack Grealish ran back to frustrate Son Heung-min and was then stopped dead in his tracks by an even better challenge from Romero.
What we were missing was the goal mouth incident, but that changed dramatically in the last 16 minutes of the first half.
Lewis’s 25-yard effort took a blow from Son and forced Lloris to make a clever save before Haaland squandered two chances in as many minutes in front of goal.
Until that point, Tottenham’s only threat had been Son’s header off a Ben Davies cross, but they stunned the champions with two goals late in the half.
Ederson did not cover himself in glory on any of the occasions, it must be said.
When the ball was returned to the City goalkeeper in the 44th minute, for some reason he decided to play it short on Rodri. All the Spaniard could do was stick out one foot and push the ball away from Rodrigo Bentancur, but it only went as far as Kulusevski, who sent a shot from 15 yards out.
City’s defense was no better for the second goal in added time at the end of the half. John Stones fed the ball to Kulusevski down the right and then Harry Kane slid to win it over from Rodri, who made a half-hearted challenge.
Kane got up to test Ederson with a shot at the near post and the keeper should have done better than palm the ball out of the air, as Emerson Royal reacted quicker than Grealish to head an empty goal.
The half-time whistle was greeted with boos around the Etihad, but the mood changed eight minutes into the restart when City surprisingly leveled up again.
First, Spurs had trouble dealing with Mahrez’s cross from the right and when Lloris came out to challenge Grealish, the ball fell for Álvarez to finish off.
Then, with Conte’s side still reeling, Rodri sent in a smart pass for Mahrez to head through the box where Halland was waiting to head home and end their three-game goal drought.
Back play Spurs and Ivan Perisic looked sure to score but their scoring effort hit the inside of Lewis’s leg and deflected off the post.
But in the 63rd minute, Mahrez won a 50-50 win with Perisic and got past Davies before passing the ball to Lloris at his near post.
There were doubts about the Tottenham goalkeeper again and substitute Clement Lenglet did not fare much better when he mishandled a long ball from Ederson late on, allowing Mahrez to score a second and put the result beyond doubt. But City won’t care. The title race is really on