Pep Guardiola and his Manchester City players were stunned into disbelief when they lost their almost four-month unbeaten run to Tottenham Hotspur in front of their home fans at the weekend. Manchester City have suffered Premier League defeats in the past even if it is rare in comparison to other big teams such as Manchester United, Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea in recent times, but the manner of the defeat to the Antonio Conte-led Spurs is almost unprecedented in the Premier League era.

Tottenham Hotspur have always been a difficult team for Manchester City irrespective of the players on both sides as demonstrated at the start of the season when Guardiola and his players began the defence of their Premier League title with a 1-0 defeat at Spurs in what was their first game this season. Son Heung-Min was the recipient of the game’s winning goal in the second half. He was always the thorn in the flesh of Manchester City. The defeat to Spurs meant that Manchester City have lost that fixture in each of the last three seasons.

Son proved to be a thorn in the flesh of Manchester City in the return leg when he provided the assist for the first goal of the game from new signing DejanKulusevski inside four minutes. German midfielder IlkayGundogan was able to score the equaliser for the home team as the two teams went into the break on level terms. In the second half, Algerian international RiyadMahrez thought he had won at least a point for City via a 2-2 draw when he tucked away the resulting penalty in added time after Spurs defender Christian Romero was penalised for handball. His successful spot kick cancelled the advantage given to Spurs by Harry Kane who scored their second goal off the assist from Son.

Kane had other ideas for Mahrez and Manchester City whom he was facing for the first time since his failed transfer to the Etihad Stadium at the start of the season. Tottenham Hotspur had bids rejected for him from City last summer. He scored the winning goal deep into stoppage time to secure three points for his team and stun the Citizens.

The defeat at home to Spurs ensured that Manchester City will start all over again by the time they face hosts Everton this weekend. They lost their 14-game unbeaten run in the league ahead of facing Everton on Saturday and it would be interesting to see if they can bounce back against the Toffees at the first time of asking. On their part, Everton are coming into the game on the back of a 2-0 defeat at Southampton last weekend.