Watch: Manchester City’s goal-keeping howler that stunned the Premier League
By Lori Ewing
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Manchester: Tottenham Hotspur continued their impressive recent Premier League record at Manchester City with a 2-0 win on Saturday as Joao Palhinha took advantage of a goalkeeping blunder by James Trafford and Brennan Johnson also scored.
Spurs, who have now won three of their last five league games at the Etihad, maintained their unbeaten start under manager Thomas Frank following an opening 3-0 win over Burnley.
Both sides squandered chances before Johnson broke the deadlock in the 35th minute, thanks largely to lazy defending by Rico Lewis. Johnson latched onto a pass from Richarlison and finished with a shot into the top corner.
The goal was initially flagged for offside, but that decision was overturned by VAR.
Palhinha, signed on loan from Bayern Munich this month, doubled the visitors’ lead in first-half stoppage time when new signing Trafford inexplicably tried to play out from the back to nervy gasps from the crowd.
Manchester City’s James Trafford had a game to forget against Tottenham Hotspur.Credit: Getty Images
Richarlison pounced, rolling the ball to Palhinha whose deflected shot found the back of the net.
“First of all, the coach pushed me to come here and showed me the project he has here at Tottenham,” Palhinha said. “It is such a great club, and I am really glad to be in the Premier League again.”
The 22-year-old Trafford, meanwhile, started for the second successive game amid speculation that City’s regular keeper Ederson is headed to Turkey’s Galatasaray.
City, champions four years in a row before finishing third last season, started with a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, but Spurs brought them quickly back down to earth as thousands of home fans poured out of the ground before the final whistle. Joyous Spurs supporters, meanwhile, chanted “It’s happened again, Manchester City, it’s happened again”, after last season’s 4-0 win at Etihad.
City had started well, Omar Marmoush forcing Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario into action and an Erling Haaland header that floating just over the bar.
Frank, who led Brentford to a 2-1 victory at Manchester City in 2022, became the third manager to beat City boss Pep Guardiola away in the league with two different teams after Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid and Manchester United) and Antonio Conte (Chelsea and Spurs).
Arsenal catch fire
Arsenal, who have invested heavily to try and win a first title since 2003 after several near misses, were criticised for their display in a 1-0 win at Manchester United last week but responded by thrashing Leeds.
Viktor Gyokeres, who joined for an initial reported £55 million from Sporting, made his mark with a double on his home debut, the second a late penalty. Defender Jurrien Timber also scored twice while Bukayo Saka was on target.
Arsenal’s Viktor Gyokeres celebrates after scoring.Credit: AP
Arsenal’s day was clouded though, with captain Martin Odegaard and Saka both going off with injuries.
Aston Villa are still to register a goal after two games as they went down 1-0 at Brentford while Bournemouth also earned their first points of the season with a 1-0 home win against Wolves. Burnley ensured that all three promoted clubs have a win after two rounds of fixtures as they beat fellow newcomers Sunderland 2-0 at Turf Moor.
Marcus Tavernier’s early deflected strike earned Bournemouth the points at home to Wolves, who suffered a second successive loss. Wolves’ cause was undermined by a red card for Toti Gomes early in the second half.
Villa spent a lot of last season challenging for a Champions League spot only to finish sixth and miss out.
There is a sense that they have regressed this season and Saturday’s loss at Brentford was a worrying one for Unai Emery.
Brentford’s record signing Dango Ouattara scored on his debut, slotting the only goal in the 12th minute after his initial effort was blocked by Emiliano Martinez.
It earned new Brentford manager Keith Andrews, who replaced Tottenham-bound Frank, his first points and continued Brentford’s proud record of never having lost their first home game of a top-flight season in 10 campaigns.
Last season it took until October for one of the three promoted clubs to win a Premier League game, with all three eventually going down for the second season in a row.
Burnley’s 2-0 win over Sunderland though means they have all had some early hope. Josh Cullen opened the scoring after halftime from an assist by Jaidon Anthony and the roles were then reversed as Anthony wrapped it up late on.
AP, Reuters
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