Ange Postecoglou handed Pep Guardiola the worst home league defeat of his illustrious career as Tottenham ran riot in a 4-0 mauling of Premier League champions Manchester City.
James Maddison scored twice, while Pedro Porro and Brennan Johnson were also on target for Spurs, who ended City’s 52-game unbeaten home run across all competitions.
The result handed Guardiola’s slumping City a fifth straight loss across all competitions, which also includes Tottenham’s 2-1 upset of the four-time reigning Premier League champions in the EFL Cup last month.
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For Postecoglou – whose Spurs ended a run of back-to-back losses to move within four points of second-placed City – the A-Leagues legend joined an exclusive club.
The former Brisbane Roar and Melbourne Victory boss and his Tottenham became just the second team to beat both Manchester United and Manchester City away from home by a margin of three or more games in the same season since Everton in 1992-93. Postecoglou’s Spurs upstaged United 3-0 in September.
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“I said during the week, I really think we’ve progressed as a team,” Postecoglou told reporters afterwards.
“I think we’re a better team this year than we were last year, but we’ve had some real flat spots to say the least that have kind of not allowed us to progress in terms of where we are, in terms of our standing.
“But as I said yesterday (Friday), I’ve never sensed from the players that they have lost belief in what we’re doing. It’s very easy to because obviously there’s a lot of noise when things don’t go well.
“But today was about doubling down on our football principles and we did that. It is significant because obviously they’ve got an unbelievable record here at home.
“So I don’t think it’s something that you can be just sort of blasé about. It is significant, but I think it’s significant for the whole group that we’ve reached these standards before. It’s about now not dropping as we have in certain games.”
