Algeria’s Riyad Mahrez had a man of the match performance as he galvanized a struggling Manchester City team to an emphatic 4-2 comeback victory over the disappointing Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League last night.
The former Leicester City winger bagged a second-half brace to pull the defending champions within five points of league leaders Arsenal.
Heading into the game, the Cityzens had lost four of their last five games against Spurs, including a home and away defeat last season.
It seemed like it was going to be the same outcome as Tottenham took a two-nil lead heading into the halftime break.
Dejan Kulusevski put Spurs ahead in the 44th minute after pouncing on a mistake by City goalkeeper Ederson. The Swede slotted the ball past the goalie into the bottom-left corner.
The North Londoners doubled their lead shortly after as wingback Emerson reacted quickest to a rebound from a Harry Kane strike after the Three Lions striker snatched the ball from Rodri.
However, it looked like whatever Pep Guardiola told his team during the break worked, as City looked reborn in the second half.
Argentine forward Julian Alvarez pulled one back six minutes after the restart following a goal-mount scramble.
Two minutes and nine seconds later, Erling Haaland brought City level with a close-range header, his first goal in three Premier League games, breaking a three-game goal drought that included their shocking defeat to Southampton in the Carabao Cup.
Mahrez caused serious problems for Tottenham down the right as he kept beating Ivan Perisic multiple times. His attack-mindedness finally paid off as he completed the comeback in the 63rd minute by dribbling past Perisic before calmly slotting the ball past Hugo Lloris with his weaker foot for City’s third.
The three-time Premier League winner was on hand again to add a fourth, latching on to a miskick by Clement Lenglet before clipping his strike over Lloris.
The brace was Mahrez’s third goal in as many league games and just his fourth in the English top division this season.
City’s victory was their second in consecutive Premier League games where they trailed by two goals at halftime, after a similar scoreline victory over Crystal Palace last August.
