Erling Haaland scored twice in the second half as Manchester City defeated Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 in their English Premier League (EPL) encounter at the London stadium on Tuesday.
The Norwegian striker punished Tottenham who were denied by the visitors’ goalkeeper as Man City’s charge to successfully defend their title becomes clear for the final day of the season.
Tottenham started the brighter side and forced an excellent save from Ederson Moraes, City goalkeeper. However, City slowly warmed their way into the encounter, with Phil Foden’s shot drawing a top save from Guglielmo Vicario, while a double block and the offside flag denied Man City towards the end of the half.
The second half saw Pep Guardiola’s side up the tempo, with Vicario denying Kevin de Bruyne before Haaland delivered the first blow six minutes into the half.
The six-foot striker was in the right place at the right time to bury de Bruyne’s low cross for 1-0. Ederson went off due to injury and Stefan Ortega, his replacement, took over from where the Brazilian stopped.
He stopped Dejan Kulusevski’s shot and denied Heun-Min Son when one-on-one with the South Korean, stopping the shot with his leg.
Man City had reprieve at the other end when Padro Poro brought down Jeremy Doku for Haaland to send Vicario the wrong way with an emphatic spot-kick for a 2-0 final scoreline.
Haaland leads the EPL scorers chart with 27 goals and is set to win successive golden boots.
The win sees Man City return to the top of the EPL with 88 points from 37 matches, two ahead of Arsenal going into the final day of the season on Sunday.
Tottenham, on the other hand, can only finish in fifth place or below, meaning they will miss out on Champions League football again next season.
