- LONDON — Erling Haaland scored the only goal as Manchester City boosted their
hopes of a top-four finish with a 1-0 away win over Tottenham Hotspur on
Thursday (IST).
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- Sunday's loss to Liverpool left last season’s Premier League
champions 20 points adrift of the leaders, and Chelsea's 4-0 win over
Southampton on Tuesday saw City drop out of the top four.
Also read: Premier League: Liverpool beat Newcastle to go 13 points clear on top
- But Pep Guardiola's side produced a dominant first-half
performance in north London, which was rewarded when Haaland tapped home on his
return from injury for his 20th Premier League goal of the season.
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- That made him just the second player to reach that tally in
each of his first three campaigns in the competition, after Ruud van Nistelrooy
did so for Manchester United between 2001/02 and 2003/04, Premier League
reports.
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- Haaland even thought he’d put the icing on the cake in the
dying moments after stroking past Guglielmo Vicario but he instead saw the
strike ruled out for handball.
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- City could have put the game out of sight in the first half
but were instead forced to work hard for a clean sheet and the three points as
the hosts improved after the break.
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- The hard-fought win move City back into the top four of the
Premier League with 11 games remaining while Spurs stay 13th in the table with
33 point.
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- "We were better in the first and they were better in
the second. 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 that should have happened because of the chances. In
the second half we suffer but we should have closed it in the first. But for
Champions League qualification, it was an incredibly good result for us,"
Guardiola said.
