Leaders Manchester City suffered their second successive Premier League defeat when Tottenham Hotspur produced a stunning fightback to win 4-1 at White Hart Lane yesterday.
Goals from Eric Dier, Toby Alderweireld, Harry Kane and Erik Lamela left City reeling after the visitors had dominated early on and taken a 25th-minute lead through record signing Kevin de Bruyne.
Coming a week after a 2-1 home defeat by West Ham United that halted City’s 100 percent start to the season, their second-half collapse in sunny north London means they could lose top spot this weekend.
Photo: AFP
There seemed no hint of what was to come when City broke quickly through the marauding Yaya Toure, who fed De Bruyne to slot past Hugo Lloris.
If there was a hint of offside about that goal, Tottenham’s equalizer on the stroke of halftime was even more controversial.
Clearly offside, Kyle Walker crossed low into to the area and although City goalkeeper Willy Caballero saved well from Son Heung-min, the ball was drilled back into the net by Dier.
Tottenham went ahead five minutes after the break when Lamela’s free-kick was headed in by Alderweireld.
Eleven minutes later, Kane broke his season-long goal famine for his club when he coolly clipped in a rebound after Christian Eriksen’s free-kick struck the crossbar.
The impressive Lamela completed the scoring when he showed great composure to fire past Caballero.
Tottenham’s win, their third in a row in the Premier League, moved them into fifth place with 12 points from seven games, just three points behind City.
Elsewhere, Alex Ferguson said Manchester United are serious contenders to win the Premier League for the first time since he retired now that David de Gea has committed his immediate future to the club.
De Gea was on the verge of joining Real Madrid on deadline day, but the transfer fell through because the relevant paperwork was not submitted in time.
The Spanish goalkeeper then signed a new four-year contract at Old Trafford and former United boss Ferguson, who retired after claiming the English title in 2013, believes that could prove to be a huge fillip to his old club’s title chances of lifting the trophy under current boss Louis van Gaal.
“I think De Gea can actually win us the league,” Ferguson said during an hour-long interview in Manchester on Friday to publicise his new book Leading.
Ferguson also gave a more general upbeat assessment of United’s chances of success under Van Gaal.
“We are second in the league,” said Ferguson, who won the title 13 times during his 26-year reign at Old Trafford.
“We are in a good position, because City hadn’t lost a game until last week and then United won at Southampton and the whole thing changes round,” he said.
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