Manchester City responded to back-to-back defeats with a 4-2 comeback victory over Tottenham, moving five points behind Premier League leaders Arsenal. Erling Haaland ended his goal drought, and Riyad Mahrez turned in a match-winning performance.
Spurs did the double over Pep Guardiola’s side last season and looked to be on track for an incredible fifth win in six games against City when they took a 2-0 lead into halftime thanks to a quickfire burst from Dejan Kulusevski (44) and Emerson Royal (45+2) just before the break.
But City quickly responded with a two-goal salvo from Julian Alvarez (51) and Erling Haaland (53) – the latter scoring for the first time in four games – and Mahrez (63), who had played a part in both of those goals, produced a moment of individual magic to grab one of his own and put the hosts ahead. The Algerian deservedly doubled his season tally late on, capping off a brilliant second half from City by darting onto a Clement Lenglet error to dink in a late fourth.
Tottenham had looked set to do their neighbors a huge favor, but City – who had suffered a Carabao Cup defeat to Southampton and a Manchester derby loss at Old Trafford the previous week – avoided a third consecutive defeat for the first time since April 2018 and finally looked like their usual selves during a statement second half.