Manchester City Thump Tottenham, Take First Place

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Manchester City came into today's match against Tottenham with a chance to take the top spot in the Premier League table.  Arsenal tied Southampton the day before leaving only a two point gap between City in second place.

Despite playing on the road, Manchester City got off to a great start and held nearly all of possession in the first fifteen minutes.  Sergio Agüero started alongside Edin Dzeko at forward and put City in front early.  David Silva played the pass that put Agüero in scoring position and the striker finished with a slight chip shot over keeper Lloris coming off his line (15').

Agüero nearly scored a second goal with a header, but this time Lloris made the big play, getting his palm on the ball for the save.  The Argentine striker was looking good and put his team ahead, but moments before half-time Agüero pulled up with a hamstring problem.  He was immediately removed from the match and sent to the locker room with Stevan Jovetić taking his place.

The margin between the two clubs was only one goal at the start of the second-half, but a missed tackle by Tottenham defender Danny Rose ended any real chance of a come-back.  Rose was shown a red card for a tackle from behind on Dzeko inside the box to give City a penalty as well as leave his side down a man for the rest of the match.  Yaya Touré scored from the spot to give City a two goal lead (51').  Edin Dzeko then score a goal himself an instant later.  David Silva had a shot blocked that fell for Dzeko who finished the loose ball (53').

Tottenham managed to score one goal for a glimmer of hope in the second-half when substitute Etienne Capoue found the net.  A Tottenham corner-kick was not cleared off the line by City's defense and Capoue was able to turn a shot towards goal that beat keeper Joe Hart (59').  Capoue's goal was the only goal Tottenham could produce though, and City were not content with their three goals.

Substitute Jovetić scored his first ever Premier League goal when his shot took a fortunate deflection and ended up in the net (78').  Then in the final minutes of regulation captain Kompany scored when a blocked shot fell for him.  Kompany finished right in front of goal for the final score of the match (89').

The big win means Manchester City take the top spot from Arsenal in the table.  Chelsea were also held to a draw by West Ham United today so they remain in third place.  Chelsea and City meet this weekend in league play for a chance to either stretch or shrink the points difference.