Pep Guardiola was proud of the fighting spirit of Manchester City after they fought for a 1-0 win in Tottenham and returned to the top four of the Premier League.
After missing the back-to-back defeat of City against Real Madrid and Liverpool with a knee injury, Erling Haaland scored the only goal of the game from the cutback of Jeremy Doku in the 12th minute.
City had to endure a lot of pressure in Tottenham in the second half by dominating the opening period.
Spurs won the expected goals (XG) with 1.06 to 0.18 after the break, but Wilson Odobert, son Heung-Min and Pape Sarr missed all golden opportunities to deliver.
In the result, City went back to Chelsea in the table and went an end to the third placed Nottingham Forest, with whom they are confronted in their next league match on March 8.
Guardiola spoke with TNT -Sport after the game: “We are really happy for the victory and we needed it for the three points.
“The second half was really open because we didn't close it. In the first we had too many clear opportunities and for the quality we have, we had to convert.
“Unfortunately we couldn't do it and then you know in the second half that you are going to suffer, but we did it. The boys fought, but there is always a difficult, difficult place to come here.”
Doku was one of the striking artists of City and created clear opportunities for both Savinho and Haaland after they had set up the opener, and Guardiola was impressed by the two wing players.
“We played well with the Wingers – Savinho and Jeremy were excellent. We did very, very good things. In general we played a very good game,” Guardiola said.
“Jeremy is immediately, he is a threat in the last third. He has made an incredible assistant and when a player can dribble, they open spaces for other players.”
Haaland had a potentially second goal that was allowed during the stopping time, with a VAR review that confirmed the decision of Jarred Gillett on the field to punish him for handball while bursting between Archie Gray and Kevin Danso.
“I didn't see it, but the referee was much, much faster to not allow the goal than the VAR, so he is very smart and fast,” smiled Guardiola.
“In the end we won, so it doesn't matter, but they still had a chance at the end, so it's hard.”
Haaland was more frank when he was asked about his not -Toogeestane goal and said that the incident could have led to a fine for the city.
“I think it is clearly the wrong decision. I think it is more a penalty than a free kick, but because he gave the decision on the field, he was there,” said Haaland.
“But I don't think that's handball someday. I think it's completely wrong, so that's me. It's more a penalty, that's my opinion. It was also a great goal, so it's sad.”
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