Manchester City 4-2 Tottenham: Riyad Mahrez leads superb City fightback against Spurs

For the best part of an hour here at the Etihad, it looked like being a good night for Tottenham and an even better one for Arsenal.

Spurs led 2-0 against the run of play and Manchester City’s hopes of catching the Gunners at the top of the Premier League appeared to be fading fast.

Five days after losing the Manchester derby, Pep Guardiola was on his knees and staring at three defeats in a row for only the third time in his managerial career.

Riyad Mahrez notched a brace as he inspired Manchester City to a comeback win over Tottenham on Thursday night

Julian Alvarez struck the first goal moments after the restart as Manchester City began their comeback at the Etihad

Erling Haaland (pictured) found the back of the net with a header early in the second-half to wipe out Spurs’ first-half lead

Antonio Conte’s side, 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.

Even by Tottenham’s standards, however, what came next was a collapse of epic proportions.

Heaven knows what Guardiola said – or did – during the half-time interval with the opprobrium of the home fans still ringing in his ears, but City came out for the second half like a team possessed.

Julian Alvarez pulled one back and Erling Haaland ended a run of three games without a goal by heading City level from Riyad Mahrez’s assist. 

Mahrez then completed a stunning turnaround by scoring a third goal in the space of 13 minutes before sealing victory with the fourth goal late on.

Tottenham took a 2-0 lead into the half-time break with Dejan Kulusevski scoring the opener before the interval

While Guardiola celebrated on the touchline, Conte wore a look of utter resignation after a sixth defeat in 10 league games.

The only consolation for Tottenham fans is that it has turned up the pressure on Arsenal in the title race.

The leaders’ advantage is down to five points – albeit with a game in hand – and that could be cut to two by the time Arsenal face Manchester United at the Emirates on Sunday if City beat Wolves earlier in the day.

It was quite clear from this performance that the champions won’t give up their crown without a hell of a fight, even though they simply cannot afford to be as careless as this too often in the second half of the season.

Still, it made for an entertaining night when the defending was hardly top drawer and neither goalkeeper covered himself in glory. 

Hugo Lloris provided his critics with more ammunition and Ederson wasn’t much better.

Strangely, there was little goalmouth action for the fans to enjoy before the game exploded into life before half-time.

Lloris kept out Rico Lewis’ effort after it took a nick off Son Heung-min, and Haaland’s problems continued as he missed two clear chances in as many minutes. 

Brazilian right-back Emerson Royal (pictured) doubled Spurs lead over City just a few minutes later with a header

City paid the price as Spurs stunned them with two quick goals. Only Ederson knows what he was thinking when he received the ball in the 44th minute and tried to play it short to Rodri.

It was all the Spaniard could do to stick out a foot and poke the ball away from Rodrigo Bentancur, but it only went as far as Kulusevski who curled home a shot from 15 yards.

City’s defending was no better for the second goal in added time at the end of the half. John Stones gave the ball away to Kulusevski on the right and Rodri’s horribly half-hearted challenge allowed Harry Kane to slide in and win it again.

Kane, still one goal short of equalling Jimmy Greaves’ record for Spurs, got up to test Ederson with a shot to the near post and the keeper should have done better than palm the ball into the air as Royal reacted faster than Jack Grealish to head into an empty net.

The half-time whistle was greeted by boos around the Etihad, and Guardiola felt the same way about the fans judging by his post-match comments.

Up to that point, City had failed to follow their manager’s orders to give Haaland more of a helping hand, but they roared back in sensational fashion to level within eight minutes of the restart.

Tottenham will be disappointed after letting a 2-0 lead slip, following what has been a poor run of form for Conte’s men

First, Spurs struggled to deal with Mahrez’s cross from the right and when Lloris charged out to challenge Grealish, the ball fell for Alvarez to hammer home.

Then with Conte’s side still reeling, Rodri dinked in a clever pass for Mahrez to nod across the six-yard box where Haaland was waiting to end his mini drought.

Back game Spurs. Ivan Perisic looked certain to score but his goalbound effort caught the inside of Lewis’ leg and deflected against the post.

Then, in the 63rd minute, Mahrez won a 50-50 with Perisic and skipped past Ben Davies before rifling the ball past Lloris at his near post.

When substitute Clement Lenglet miscontrolled Ederson’s long punt late on, Mahrez was in again to clip in his second goal and City’s fourth.

You could almost hear Arsenal’s bubble burst. City are back in the race. Game on.