Having already beaten Manchester City once this season, in a 4-1 demolition at White Hart Lane in late September, Tottenham Hotspur completed an impressive double over Manuel Pellegrini’s side with a hard fought 2-1 victory in Manchester on Sunday afternoon.
With title rivals Arsenal getting the better of league leaders Leicester City in the early kick-off on Sunday, both sides knew three points were vital in closing the gap at the top of the table, in one of the closest seasons in Premier League history.
With the home side welcoming back influential captain Vincent Kompany at the heart of the defence, the two sides with the best defensive records in the division were always going to play out a tense affair.
The visitors started the better of the two, but only Christian Eriksen forced Joe Hart into a save in the opening exchanges as the two sides went in level at the break.
Just ten minutes after the interval, however, a Danny Rose cross was adjudged to have hit Raheem Sterling on the arm and a penalty was awarded. Harry Kane confidently stepped up before blasting the ball down the centre of compatriot Hart’s goal.
The lead only lasted twenty minutes with City substitute Kelechi Iheanacho blasting a Gael Clichy cross past Hugo Lloris in the away net. City continued to grow in confidence but were left to pay the price with just seven minutes remaining.
Yaya Touré lost possession in the middle of the park before Erik Lamela ran at the Citizens defence, expertly finding Eriksen who confidently slid the ball past Hart to seal a highly impressive three points.
Pochettino hails his title challengers, and their travelling support
Tottenham head coach Mauricio Pochettino was full of praise of his young side following the victory, which moved them above North London rivals Arsenal and into second place once again.
Discussing the scenes of pure ecstasy following the win, particularly with the travelling away fans once the final whistle had been blow, the former Argentinian international claimed his players "were fantastic" and are "a pleasure to work with".
Paying special attention to the travelling faithful, the once Southampton boss said it was "great to see [the joy at the end] and how the players appreciate the supporters".
Pochettino concluded by expressing his gratitude towards the supporters, saying "thank you" and "the fans are brilliant".
Key players celebrate win
The special thanks was echoed by a number of the key performers for Tottenham on the day. Austrian centre back Kevin Wimmer was left understandably delighted by another fine defensive performance alongside Toby Alderweireld.
Wimmer claimed his fellow defenders “always stay calm when defending” and that it was “amazing to celebrate with fans at the end”.
Opening goalscorer Kane reflected on his confident looking penalty, stating he thought Hart would “dive for the penalty” so “struck it straight down the middle” much to the delight of his teammates and manager.
Moving on to cup action
With the Premier League programme taking a break for a couple of weeks, Tottenham turn their focus to European and domestic cup action in the next fortnight.
The FA Cup fixture at home to Crystal Palace is sandwiched inbetween the home and away legs of Europa League action against Fiorentina.
Tottenham will be hopeful of building on their recent good form, which has seen them win seven matches in a row, before turning their attention once again to a potential title tilt in the coming months.