Opinion: A prediction of what would have happened in Man City vs Spurs

With football postponed and the country in mourning, Manchester City vs Tottenham Hotspur has been postponed this weekend, likely until 2023. However, we thought it would be interesting to look at what could have happened…

Spurs have a track record of upsetting a usually dominant Pep Guardiola since his arrival in English football, including doing a double over City home and away last season.

This new-look Conte Tottenham seems to play without the fear often associated with previous Lilywhite sides, as evidenced by the 3-2 win away at the Etihad last season.

Despite conceding a late equaliser to a Mahrez penalty, Spurs avoided dropping back and fighting for a point, instead taking the game to City and scoring a last-minute winner of their own.

This fixture often features a breathtakingly fast start, whether it be Dejan Kulusevski’s 4th-minute opener or the quickfire succession of goals in that iconic Champions League quarter-final.

This time around, we believe Erling Haaland would have continued his fine run of form in the 7th minute, creeping in between Eric Dier and Ben Davies to flick a header home and put Man City 1-0 up.

The home side would then ease into a period of control, with Spurs sitting back in a 5-4-1 formation, waiting for that chance to break… which would happen just before the half-time whistle.

Heung-min Son finally times one of his trademark runs off the shoulder, with Harry Kane chipping a perfectly-weighted pass over the top to send his strike partner through on goal. And this time, there was no sign of nerves from the South Korean… 1-1.

In the second half, Man City would have continued their period of dominance, slowly knocking on the door and looking for that one opening to potentially win them the game.

After some resolute defending, Spurs would finally be beaten by a wicked deflection in the 77th minute, with Ilkay Gungogan letting rip from the edge of the box, only for a rebound off Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s shin to give Hugo Lloris no chance.

But, one again, Tottenham would then take the game to Man City. Emerson Royal makes way for Richarlison, with Dejan Kulusevski switching to right-wing-back. Tottenham’s four attackers would now be on the pitch at the same time.

And in the final minute of the game, after a neat one-two with Richarlison, Kulusevski manages to get around the back of Joao Cancelo and into the Man City box.

And who should he pick out with his cut-back but that man Harry Kane… 2-2.

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