Tottenham Hotspur vs Manchester City

Tottenham Hotspurs drew with Manchester City in an entertaining but goalless draw in the opening fixture of Barclay’s Premier League. In a match that would be best remembered for Joe Hart’s heroics, Manchester City would be counting themselves as lucky as Tottenham failed to convert even one of their 20 chances in front of goal.

Coming at the back of an impressive domestic season, Tottenham fielded their regular XI with Modric and Huddlestone occupying the central midfield, with Bale and Lennon on the wings. Defoe partnered Crouch upfront and King and Dawson formed the spine of the back four. Manchester City after much influx sported a new look side, handing out debuts to Kolorov (LB), Silva and Yaya Toure.

Tottenham began the game brightly and attacked through Manchester City’s weak Right flank, with Gareth Bale running at Micah Richards consistently. Joe Hart made the first save of the game keeping out a towering header from Crouch, and a few minutes later made a stunning save to keep Defoe at bay.

Mancini’s headache prior to the game regarding the choice of his keeper seemed to be justified with Joe Hart producing the form of his life. He parried a vicious Tom Huddlestone volley, and denied Defoe from point blank. The one time Joe Hart was beaten, he was saved by the wood work, with Gareth Bale finding the post, and the ball rebounding to Lennon whose shot was saved by Vincent Kompany. Manchester City’s back four seemed completely out of sorts as Tottenham plundered Manchester City, but without a goal to score. Manchester City were happy to head into the dressing room with scores level and came into the second half with Zabaleta replacing the injured Kolorav.

City looked a little better and enjoyed more possession than they did in the first half. Shaun Wright Philips wasted a wonderful opportunity to put City one up as Assou Ekkoto saved the day with a last ditch sliding tackle. City remained relatively quiet after that, as Tottenham tried to unlock City’s defense and most importantly Joe Hart’s resistance. Adam Johnson lightened things up a little, but Spurs were more or less in full control. Spurs introduced Pavlyuchenko and Keane in place of Defoe and Crouch, as the Russian forward immediately had a couple of chances. The match went into cruise mode slowly as City churned out a lucky draw in their opening day.

Star of the Game: Joe Hart

With 11 saves to boast of, he may have dethroned Shay Given as Manchester City’s number one. Fabio Capello will be a happy man, as he seeks to rebuild his English squad ahead of the Euro qualifiers. With amazing agility and positioning skills, Joe Hart has the talent to be Premier league’s and England’s number 1.

Flop of the Game: Carlos Tevez

Tevez looked a shadow of his former self, as he played completely out of position. With no partnering striker and abysmal service he didn’t even bother running at the defenders today. He cut a forlorn figure and was substituted for Adebayor after 75 minutes.

By: Anerudh Balaji

Tags: Barclays Premier League, Carlos Tevez, Football, Joe Hart, Manchester City, Sports, Sports World, Tottenham Hotspur, World Sports