Harry Kane blows title race wide open as Tottenham stun Man City in epic Etihad thriller
In pictures: Man City v Tottenham
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Football. Sometimes there are simply no words. Harry Kane, the best player on the pitch bar none, has blown the Premier League title race wide open. He could have had a hat-trick but instead he may just have truly kickstarted the Antonio Conte era after a stunning five-goal thriller.
Spurs led, were knocked back in stoppage-time by a Riyad Mahrez penalty before Tottenham went straight up the other end and snatched a winner.
Shortly after 4pm this afternoon at Anfield, Liverpool looked like they had a mountain to climb after trailing Norwich 1-0 on their own patch.
Fast-forward three hours, they can smell Manchester City’s blood thanks to another Conte masterclass at the Etihad Stadium.
Tottenham were ahead after just four minutes when Dejan Kulusevski gratefully finished a brilliantly-worked counter-attack that came through Kane and Heung-min Son.
The Swede, making his first Premier League start in his new colours following his January switch from Juventus, guided the ball home through Joao Cancelo’s legs after Son unselfishly squared around Ederson.
Yet in typical City fashion, City were not phased as they continued to knock on Tottenham’s door.
Spurs held firm despite riding their luck until Hugo Lloris made hard work of a looping cross, which he spilled into the path of Ilkay Gundogan.
The German had also hit the post earlier in the match as Tottenham’s defensive organisation – that was non-existent in the defeat to Wolves – was once again put to the test.
Yet City’s dominance appeared to play into Tottenham’s hands in the second half.
Utilising the pace of Kulusevski and Son, Spurs continued to break down the flanks to impressive effect.
The pair combined before Son delivered a pin-point cross into the danger zone that was met expertly by Kane, who was never going to miss from inside the area.
He guided the ball into the top corner to send the away supporters into raptures.
Kane, who was by far the best player on the pitch as he turned in his best performance of the season, thought he had another goal when he controlled Kulusevski’s cross and fired home at the back post.
However, VAR ruled that the young winger was offside when he collected Ben Davies’ raking cross-field ball.
City continued to ask questions of Tottenham, who were even prepared to delve into the dark arts to run down the clock.
All their work was seemingly undone when City won a penalty after Cristian Romero handled in the box from Bernardo Silva’s cross.
Up stepped Mahrez, who fired home into the top corner but this incredible match was not over yet.
Tottenham still believed and it was Kulusevski who hung one up into the box, the cross was met by Kane who planted the header into the net.
This was game of the season, no doubt. Another brilliant advert for Premier League football.
This was a vintage Conte performance built upon dedication, structure, defending and ruthlessness in attack.
The execution of the display was almost reminiscent of Chelsea’s 3-1 win at the Etihad under Conte in 2016/17 as they won the Premier League title.
Liverpool are now within touching distance of the champions, just six points behind but with a game in hand that will be played next week against Leeds at Anfield.
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