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Rob Guest

What Emerson and Hojbjerg did to frustrate City team - 5 things spotted in Man City vs Tottenham

Kulusevski shines

Antonio Conte was always going to make changes to his Tottenham team to face Man City after three straight Premier League defeats.

Making a total of four alterations, Eric Dier, Emerson Royal, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Dejan Kulusevski all came into the Spurs side following last Sunday's 2-0 defeat against Wolves.

Kulusevski did play 62 minutes of the previous game having replaced Ryan Sessegnon early on and clearly did enough for the head coach to name him in his XI vs Man City.

Rather than opt for an extra man in midfield to try and nullify the threat of the hosts, the Swede played in his favoured No.10 role to ensure Spurs still had an attacking threat.

The decision proved to be a masterstroke with the new signing giving Spurs the lead in the fourth minute after tapping home Son Heung-min's pass, before teeing up Harry Kane's winner in stoppage time with a brilliant cross in.

He was a constant threat for City throughout and showed exactly why he was brought to the club with a devastating performance in Manchester.

Sensational Kane

Kane was constantly in the headlines last summer due to his role in England's run to the Euro 2020 final and also because of talk regarding a Tottenham exit.

Tipped to link up with Man City in a big-money move, a deal for the 28-year-old never came to fruition and he instead remained in the capital rather than taking Sergio Aguero's place at the Etihad Stadium.

Kane wasn't in the Tottenham squad for the opening day win over the champions and Saturday evening was his first involvement against Pep Guardiola's men.

Harry Kane impressed against Man City as he caused problems for their backline (Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images)

Maybe keen to show City what exactly they missed out on, Kane was in superb form and made his mark four minutes into the contest with a through ball for Son that led to the opening goal.

While Kulusevski will get all the credit for the opener, Kane deserves plenty of praise as his pass was quite simply outstanding.

Dropping deep to get on the ball and link up with his Spurs teammates, the academy graduate had a big impact on proceedings and caused major issues for the hosts throughout with his intelligent through balls to his teammates.

Kane did get a goal his performance deserved on the hour mark as he again combined with Son to expertly finish past Ederson after busting a gut to get in the box, before then sparking wild scenes in stoppage time with a header to clinch a famous win.

Lloris' error and brilliance in 90 minutes

One of Tottenham's most consistent performers so far this season, Hugo Lloris has not had the best couple of games for Spurs.

Playing his part in Wolves' two goals at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last time out with some poor goalkeeping by his high standards, he will again feel he should have done so much better for Ilkay Gundogan's equaliser.

Raheem Sterling did put in a good inswinging ball into the box and it seemed like a comfortable take for the World Cup winner, yet he couldn't collect it and it kindly rolled into the path of Gundogan.

He did, however, atone for his mistake in the first half with an outstanding save to deny the ex-Borussia Dortmund man after the break with his curling effort looking destined for corner.

At a crucial time in the season with Spurs pushing for the top four, Conte needs those errors creeping into Lloris' game to stop as they could prove very costly come May.

The benefit of a full week on the training pitch

Time is one thing Conte hasn't exactly had a lot of since taking on the Tottenham job in November.

Putting on double sessions to quickly get his team up to speed and matching his high demands, Premier League, European and domestic cup fixtures have meant it has been very stop-start for him at Hotspur Way.

Having the bonus of a full week on the training pitch between the Wolves and City games, Conte was always going to use the time wisely and devise a masterplan to help his side get back on track.

His plan worked to perfection as Spurs frustrated City from the first minute with their resolute defending to keep them at bay.

Another major part of his blueprint was for his team to punish the hosts on the counter and they did just that with Kane acting like a quarterback and getting on the ball to release Son and Kulusevski time and time again.

Spurs' win just showed the importance of Conte having time on the training pitch with his players.

What Emerson and Hojbjerg did to frustrate City

Guardiola's team were certainly becoming frustrated as the match wore on with Tottenham's gameplan making life very difficult for them.

Defending very well to nullify City despite them piling on the pressure, Spurs were also taking their time with goal kicks and throw-ins as they tried to see out the time.

This didn't go down well at all with the home fans and they duly made their feelings clear with loud boos ringing around the stadium numerous times.

Emerson did go to ground injured a couple of times which irked both City players and fans, with the Brazilian then taking his time to come off the pitch when he was replaced by Matt Doherty late on which led to even more jeers.

Emerson wasn't the only Spurs player to wind up the home faithful as Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg did it numerous times throughout the game by winning the ball, drawing fouls and making a tactical one for himself which led to a booking.

It all helped Spurs get the win, though, as they recorded another famous night at the home of Man City.

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