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Tottenham 0-1 Manchester City: Powerful Aguero finish earns City a road win

Tottenham 0-1 Manchester City: Powerful Aguero finish earns City a road win

Chelsea may have secured the Premier League title, but Manchester City continues to fight for second as a Sergio Aguero strike downed Tottenham at White Hart Lane.

Spurs had gobs of chances, most from set-pieces and crosses into the box, but they failed to capitalize as Aguero bested fellow Premier League goal table member Harry Kane.

The game exploded open straight off the starting whistle, as Nacer Chadli had Erik Lamela open in front of goal on the break but had his cross heroically blocked by Aleksander Kolarov. On the ensuing corner, Eric Dier had an open header sail just wide. Then, with just three minutes gone, Harry Kane rocketed a shot wide across the face of goal.

Manchester City looked all out of sorts defensively at the start, but they finally began to get big chances after the five-minute mark. James Milner sent in a dangerous cross on 13 minutes but it was blocked out before reaching Sergio Aguero. After the 20-minute mark, Spurs goalkeeper Hugo Lloris slipped outside the box, allowing Aguero free on goal but he went down under minimal (if any) contact with Dier, and referee

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The game deserved a goal, and it came off the boot of Aguero on a counter-attack just before the half-hour mark. Following a Spurs corner, David Silva slid a ball through to the Argentinian that cut open the Spurs defensive line, and he slammed the ball home for a 1-0 City lead.

The two sides continued to trade blows as it progressed towards halftime, with Kane and Aguero firing more shots on target. Joe Hart made a great save on Ryan Mason from point-blank range moments before halftime to keep the visitors on top. The game continued where it left off in the second half, and Kane nearly had another chance past the hour mark one-on-one with Hart but the England number 1 held firm.

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Sergio Aguero nearly had a second minutes later when he got by Lloris but couldn’t volley home off balance, instead hitting just wide. Kolarov ripped a ridiculous shot from distance on net with 20 minutes to go, and it caused Lloris to make an impressive yet awkward save to keep the deficit at just one. Manuel Pellegrini brought on Samir Nasri to add some attacking flair, but the Frenchman found himself injured just two minutes after coming on when a Spurs defender inadvertently stamped on his instep while making a tackle, and he had to come straight off.

Spurs continued to create chances but not finish them as Paulinho thundered a shot straight at Hart with 10 minutes to go after great work from Kane and Lamela.

LINEUPS:

Tottenham: Lloris; Dier, Fazio, Vertonghen, Rose; Bentaleb, Mason (Paulinho 70′); Chadli, Eriksen (Soldado 59′), Lamela; Kane.

Manchester City: Hart, Zabaleta, Demichelis, Mangala, Kolarov, Fernandinho, Fernando, Milner, Lampard (Nasri 76′, Bony 78′), Silva, Aguero (Boyata 88′)

Goals: Aguero 28′