Spurs 1-5 City
This particular match is most memorable for the efforts of one Edin Dzeko. In arguably his best performance in a City shirt, the Bosnian left White Hart Lane deservedly clutching the match ball after netting 4 goals. It was a magnificent and dominant City performance as the Blues ran riot in North London.
Dzeko twice got on the end of Samir Nasri crosses to put City 2-0 up at the break and completed his hat-trick shortly after half-time, tapping home from Toure’s cutback. He saved the best until last, sumptuously curling home from 20 yards in stoppage time to add an extra layer of gloss to an already awe-inspiring performance.
City 6-0 Spurs
We only have to go back two seasons to find City’s biggest ever win over Tottenham, a 6-0 demolition in the 13/14 title winning season.
Parity was shortlived, just 14 seconds to be exact, as Jesus Navas pounced on a Hugo Lloris gaff to put City ahead early. A brace apiece from rampaging duo Negredo and Aguero saw the Blues 5-0 inside the hour, and as the game wound down Navas added his second to round off a resounding victory.
It pretty much signaled the end of Andre Villas-Boas’ reign as Spurs manager, but his replacement didn’t fair any better against City that season. The Blues continued their dominance of Spurs with another 5-1 win at White Hart Lane later in the year.
City 3-2 Spurs
Only four months previously City had dismantled Spurs 5-1, but it was a very different Tottenham side that visited the Etihad in January 2012. Going from strength to strength under Harry Redknapp, Spurs offered a much sterner test for City this time around in a simply pulsating game.
All the fireworks, if you’ll pardon the pun, were in the second half. Nasri and Lescott bust an otherwise cagey affair wide open early in the second period, but City saw that advantage halved within a minute and wiped out within six, as Spurs came roaring back.
It could have gone either way, Jermain Defoe went terrifyingly close (or agonisingly, if you are of a Spurs persuasion) to snatching all three points right at the death. However, a certain Mr Balotelli, who was never far away from the headlines, stole them with a last-gasp penalty, which he dispatched fearlessly.
Spurs 3-4 City
The greatest FA Cup comeback of all time? It’s certainly going to be in the conversation. 3-0 down at half-time, star striker struck down with injury, resident hothead Joey Barton sent off during the break. Surely all that was left was a few more Spurs goals to compound City’s misery. Atleast, that’s how the script read at the halfway mark of this FA Cup Fourth round replay.
How it panned out was anything but.
Second half goals from Sylvain Distin, Paul Bosvelt, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Jon Macken resulted in the comeback to end all comeback’s as City defied all odds and logic to seal a fifth round berth.
Perhaps my favourite memory of this game was the shot of Sun Jihai, walking away with his hands on his head, disbelievingly mouthing words to the effect of ‘How have we done that?!’.
A game that perfectly summed up the unpredictable nature of our wonderful club.
City 1-0 Spurs
I could have gone further back in time than this and included another thrashing from the late 70’s, or that famous FA Cup final in 1981, even though we ended runners-up. However, this particular game was a vital moment in our recent history, as we secured Champions League football for the first time under it’s current guise.
It was almost as if the footballing gods had purposefully scheduled this game in May so there could be a repeat of the previous season’s clash, which saw Spurs clinch the hallowed fourth spot, and reach the holy grail of the Champions League.
Ironically, the same man scored the winner on both occasions. Peter Crouch probably remembers one more fondly than the other, though. 12 months previously he had notched at the right end, to end City’s hopes of a top four finish. This time around he inadvertently turned a James Milner cross into his own net. It stood up as the decisive goal and it was City that secured a top four spot and the North Londoners expense.
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