Premier League: Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester City full time report
Tottenham 0 Man City 0
The opening match of the 2010/11 Premier League season ended goalless, largely because of the excellent goalkeeping of Manchester City’s Joe Hart.
Englishman Hart was chosen to start ahead of last season’s No. 1 Shay Given by City boss Roberto Mancini, and the 23-year-old kept Tottenham at bay with a string of fine saves in the first half, particularly from Jermain Defoe.
Hart also kept out Tom Huddlestone and Benoît Assou-Ekotto, while Gareth Bale hit the post and missed a glorious chance in the closing moments when he screwed a right foot shot wide.
City weren’t too impressive, although both Carlos Tévez and Shaun Wright-Phillips wasted good chances when they took too long in front of goal.
It will be Hart who hogs the headlines though, with a performance that suggests that he will be Mancini’s preferred choice this season, and that Irishman Given may have to look for a new club.
In a fast-paced opening, Spurs started much the better, and only a world class stop from Hart denied Defoe’s swivelled shot after the forward had been found by Peter Crouch’s header, before the goalkeeper sprung to his right to deny Huddlestone’s brilliant 30 yard volley.
City couldn’t get out of their own half for the first 20 minutes, and Hart was again forced into a save from Assou-Ekotto’s deflected long range effort, and then comfortably caught Bale’s tame free kick.
It took the visitors a long time to get into their stride, but with debutant David Silva causing trouble on both flanks, captain Tévez should have done better when he hesitated in front of goal.
There wasn’t much respite for Hart though, and he was soon racing out of his goal to block Defoe, before Bale – who was appealing for a penalty when he tangled with Micah Richards – finally beat the City goalkeeper only to see his angled drive come back off the post. Aaron Lennon’s rebound was blocked by Vincent Kompany.
Yaya Touré drove wide on a rare City break, before Hart – in front of the watching, and presumably impressed, Fabio Capello – again brilliantly blocked Defoe after the forward had raced onto a Huddlestone pass.
Pablo Zabaleta replaced City debutant Aleksandar Kolarov at half time, and his side’s best chance of the match arrived in the opening seconds of the second half, but Wright-Phillips dallied when clean through and Assou-Ekotto brilliantly got back to cover, before Yaya Touré’s lofted pass found Richards, who headed tamely at Heurelho Gomes.
Back at the other end, Crouch headed a Lennon cross wide, but Spurs had lost their zip from the first period and, as the rain lashed down at White Hart Lane, they were struggling to find it again. With that in mind, Crouch and Defoe were replaced by Robbie Keane and Roman Pavlyuchenko.
The Russian was quickly into the action, and he tested Hart with two well struck efforts only seconds after Tévez had seen a shot deflected over.
The Argentinian then had a long range effort blocked by Ledley King, but the match was beginning to peter out, with City seemingly content with a point despite the introduction of Emmanuel Adebayor in the final 10 minutes.
Tottenham’s Bale could have won it with just six minutes to go, but he screwed a right footed shot horribly wide after a good cross from Pavlyuchenko, who was then denied by a terrific covering tackle from Kompany.
That was the last significant action of the game, and both teams are likely to take heart from a decent result on the opening day of the season, and surely Mancini will now take Hart for the rest of the campaign.
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