The competition in the Premier League this season is extremely fierce. In addition to Arsenal and Manchester City in the championship group, the suspense of the fourth place also continues until the end. However, with the end of the 34th round of make-up matches between Manchester City and Tottenham, the suspense of the Premier League's fourth-place finish also ended one round early. After last season, Tottenham once again missed the Champions League quota. Next season, they can only compete in the Europa League. Continuing his European war journey.
The rematch between Manchester City and Tottenham can be said to be the most watched matchup in recent times, because it is not only related to the trend of the championship, but also the competition for Champions League places. Only by defeating Manchester City at home can Tottenham maintain its hope of competing for the fourth place, and Manchester City also needs to defeat Tottenham in order to overtake Arsenal again in the rankings and regain the initiative in the championship. For this game where both sides needed to score 3 points, the two teams did not test the game at all and entered into an attacking rhythm as soon as it started.
In the 6th minute, Tottenham launched an attack with a long pass from the backcourt. Johnson broke through along the wing and distributed the ball to his teammates who followed in the middle. Unfortunately, Bentancur's shot at the top of the arc was saved by Ederson. Manchester City soon retaliated. Foden's close shot in front of the goal was blocked by the outstanding goalkeeper Vicario. After that, the two teams still created many scoring opportunities, but no one was able to change the score. Both sides could only return to the locker room with a score of 0-0.
Change sides and fight again. In the 51st minute, De Bruyne sent a wonderful cross in the penalty area. Haaland followed up and easily pushed the shot into the empty goal, helping Manchester City take the lead in breaking the deadlock and taking a 1-0 lead! Tottenham, who were fighting against the odds, made successive substitutions and launched a crazy counterattack. In the 71st minute, Kullu stumbled and dribbled the ball in the penalty area and formed a single goal, but his shot from a small angle was blocked by substitute goalkeeper Ortega. In the 86th minute, Tottenham once again created a murderous opportunity. Akanji made a low-level mistake in the backcourt. Son Heung-min made a single shot. Unfortunately, his shot was again resolved by Ortega. Tottenham also missed the best shot in the game. A chance to score!
In the stoppage time of the game, Tottenham, who had repeatedly missed opportunities, was punished. Harland took the penalty kick and scored twice, which also helped the team secure the victory in advance. And this 0-2 defeat also pushed Tottenham into the abyss. Since the point difference between them and the Villa team in front of them is as much as 5 points, it is impossible for them to catch up with their opponents with only one round of the league. Therefore, Tottenham also withdrew from the competition for the Champions League places one round early. As Vera got the last ticket to the Champions League.
And the big dark horse Villa, after 41 years, once again entered the Champions League. In the previous two participations, Villa reached the top 8 once and successfully won the championship trophy once. I wonder what kind of report card they will hand over this time?
