1. City’s achievement in this clash left the club with a sobering reminder of where they should be
This victory secured Manchester City’s place in next season’s Champions League. Save for maybe two clubs in the Premier League, this should be a cause for celebration.
City are one of the two clubs whose target this season should be the ultimate prize and their Champions League qualification is a small consolation on a day they officially lost their league title.
2. Another Aguero show in Spurs vs City clash
There were a lot of changes from City’s usual meetings with Tottenham recently. There were no glut of goals and no free-flowing football in the second-half as Manuel Pellegrini’s men needed to graft for a result after scoring from a counter-attack.
The only common denominator though was the star of the show. Aguero deserved his man-of the match award for his sharp movement, his goal and decisive performance in general. He has now scored eight in four games against the Spurs.
3. Pellegrini’s post-match interview shows his belief that City remain better than Chelsea
Pellegrini is always a manager full of class but this time he was unusually emotional as he knew that his side were dethroned despite their efforts on the day. He took a swipe at Chelsea’s methods insisting that it was “important for the Premier League and for the fans to play attractive football”
The City manager then went on to belittle Chelsea’s double this term by pointing out that City won the same Capital One Cup and Premier League titles last season but with 156 goals in all competitions, including 102 in the league.
And as has been the case after recent matches, he reminded everyone that City “continue to be the top scorers [this season]”.
4. Dedryck Boyata’s performance should at least give Pellegrini something to think about
Manchester City gave away three clear chances inside three minutes, they continued to defend terribly in the first 20 minutes or so. Eliaquim Mangala was the main culprit and he never really looked settled in that back-four throughout the game, though he did make some important interceptions as the game wore on.
Then Boyata got his chance with barely 10 minutes to play. The 24-year-old defender had a crucial role to nullify Emmanuel Adebayor’s aerial threat in that last period and Boyata executed his task to the letter.
Given that Vincent Kompany will probably miss the rest of the season through injury and Mangala’s disappointing season continues with no change in sight, the Chilean manager may be tempted to hand Boyata a rare start next time out.
5. No one can question Tottenham’s professional pride after watching this encounter
Pochettino admitted a couple of weeks ago that Tottenham were out of the race for Champions League qualification. Since then there has been some cynics suggesting that Spurs may end up playing poorly to drop out of the Europa League places.
Their performance in this encounter was of a side genuinely giving everything to earn the maximum points. Tottenham started strongly and after they were undone by Aguero’s brilliance, Pochettino’s charges worked hard to keep the pressure on City.
Only a few teams can boss the midfield area with just four midfielders against City but Spurs managed that. They even sustained pressure on the Citizens with only three central midfielders in the last 10 minutes when they completed the encounter with a 4-3-3 formation.
