After long silence, Man City Boss Pep Guardiola praises two tottenham stars
Pep Guardiola admits Tottenham Hotspur’s dramatic late equaliser in the 3-3 draw with Premier League champions Manchester City owed much to the brilliance of Brennan Johnson and Dejan Kulusevski.
The Man City boss had his fair share of gripes after the champions dropped two more points at home to their perennial bogey team on a thrilling afternoon which put the ‘super’ in ‘Super Sunday’.
But the goal which secured Tottenham a dramatic point against all the odds, as far as Pep Guardiola is concerned, was more a credit to the Spurs forwards than a damning indictment of City’s backline, Brennan Johnson bursting down the wing and crossing for Dejan Kulusevski to crash a 90th minute header into the top corner.
Tottenham earn Manchester City draw
“(We have to be aware that sometimes we must say) ‘Okay, guys we have to defend the cross, the high ball’. But it was a good action,” Guardiola sighs to the Man City website.
“Johnson made a good action. He made a good delivery. For the full-back on the opposite side, it is so difficult to defend these actions. Kulusevski attacked the ball well.”
The silky Swede, arguably Tottenham’s best player in a more central role, became only the second player in Premier League history – after former Spurs midfielder Danny Murphy – to score in three successive top-flight games away to Man City.
“He’s done it a couple of times, Kulusevski, getting on the ball and skipping past Rodri,” Gary Neville said during Sky Sports’ live coverage (3rd December, 4.30pm) after the £25 million signing from Juventus drove through the thirds to set up Heung-Min Son’s early opener.
Dejan Kulusevski strikes again at the Etihad
“You don’t see too many doing that in the centre of midfield. Kulusevski is doing a really good job in there.”
Man City have now dropped points in all of their last three league games. Cole Palmer scored a 94th minute penalty for Chelsea. Trent Alexander-Arnold drilled past Ederson in the 80th minute last week. And, on Sunday, it was Kulusevski’s turn. The Tottenham playmaker giving North London neighbours Arsenal an inadvertent advantage at the top of the table.
Arsenal are now three points clear of the reigning champions, beating Wolves on Saturday.
