Erling Haaland marked his return from injury with the only goal in Manchester City’s hard-fought 1-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur on Wednesday evening.
After two games without their star striker, City wasted no time in reminding everyone of Haaland’s most crucial quality: being in the right place at the right time. Tottenham had been warned of this threat over the past two and a half years, and even in the seventh minute, Haaland’s weak right-footed attempt was easily gathered by Guglielmo Vicario.
However, the towering Norwegian showed his clinical nature five minutes later. Despite four Spurs defenders between him and Jeremy Doku, a deflected cross found its way to Haaland, who made no mistake, finishing into the bottom corner from close range.
Haaland continued to position himself for prime chances, but still seemed affected by the rust from his recent knee injury, missing several opportunities.
Tottenham took on the mantle of squandered chances in the second half. With City showing signs of fatigue and nerves creeping in, Spurs pinned the champions into their own defensive third for much of the final 45 minutes.
In the end, Tottenham lacked the clinical finishing that Haaland demonstrated earlier in the game. The striker had a late goal ruled out for handball but saw the game out with Spurs’ final mistake coming from Pape Sarr in stoppage time.
