Match report: Tottenham Hotspur 1 Manchester City 0

Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign as Tottenham Hotspur manager began with a victory against Manchester City thanks to a superb strike from Heung-Min Son.

Buoyed by the return of a full capacity crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium for the first time since March 2020, Spurs delivered a battling display to defeat the Champions.

Tottenham had to survive an early City onslaught to stay in the game. Spurs could have found themselves going behind if it wasn’t for some poor play in the final third from City.

With just three minutes on the clock, City’s new £100m signing Jack Grealish went on an excellent run before being fouled on the edge of the penalty area by Oliver Skipp. A minute later, Fernandinho could only head wide after Hugo Lloris came off his line and failed to collect Benjamin Mendy’s cross.

Joao Cancelo wasted another good chance when he pounced on a loose ball and directed his shot well off target.

Spurs then started to grow into the game and had chances of their own to take the lead. Son delivered a free-kick which was not collected by Ederson, with the ball falling to Lucas Moura, whose attempt was cleared off the line by Ilkay Gundogan.

In the 28th minute Moura went on a surging run upfield and passed wide to Steven Bergwijn, whose lay-off to Son resulted in his shot being blocked by Nathan Ake.

City still possessed a threat and should have scored when Raheem Sterling found Riyad Mahrez unmarked in the area but the Algerian blazed his strike well wide.

Tottenham carried their momentum into the second half. The excellent Japhet Tanganga delivered an accurate cross into the penalty area which Moura headed way off target.

Spurs took the lead three minutes later and it was no surprise that it came from a counter. A City attack broke down and Bergwijn burst away on the counter before playing the ball wide to Son. Son cut inside onto his left foot and directed his strike into the bottom left-hand corner.

City began to look increasingly short of ideas and began to give the ball away with regularity, presenting more counter-attacking opportunities for Tottenham.

Lucas went on another run and Fernandinho’s tackle on him reached Bergwijn but he could only hit the side netting with only Ederson to beat.

City were sloppy in the final third with Ferran Torres failing to score from close range after being found by Joao Cancelo’s cross.

Substitute Gabriel Jesus played Grealish in behind but with a lack of support in the area he was forced to shoot from a wide angle and had his effort easily saved by Lloris.

The introduction of Kevin De Bruyne off the bench gave the visitors a boost and the Belgian delivered a stinging shot in the 84th minute which was pushed away by Lloris.

City continued to probe late on but could not find a way past a resolute Spurs side.

Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo speaking to Sky Sports: “The atmosphere was special off the hard work of the boys. They make any crowd proud when they work so hard.

“It was strong. We were lucky because they had chances but the boys held on and they stayed in the game. We knew it would be tough. After that first 20 minutes we did better and we started getting our chances.”

Goalscorer Heung-min Son speaking to Sky Sports: “Obviously we wanted to start well in the first game of the season and with the fans. It was an incredible performance and everyone worked so hard to get these three points.”