Timo Werner ensures Tottenham’s Carabao Cup win over Manchester City | Carabao Cup

Tottenham had threatened to win this Carabao Cup game at a canter. With a two-goal lead after 25 minutes, there was almost disbelief in the home crowd, and not just because Timo Werner had scored the first goal.

Everyone knew the story wasn’t going to end that way and so there was the Manchester City fightback, with Matheus Nunes scoring before half-time and then a concerted attempt by Spurs to seal the deal. They created a handful of chances in the second half, some of them clear, but they were unable to capitalize on them.

When substitute Richarlison failed to finish from close range in the 83rd minute, it seemed obvious that City would have the opportunity to redeem themselves and salvage a performance that did not reach the level Pep Guardiola demanded.

They got it, the ball fell to 19-year-old Nico O’Reilly after Guglielmo Vicario’s wobble on a corner, and the shot went into the goal, only for Yves Bissouma, coming on as a substitute, to score the most dramatic goal clearance.

There was a lot of tension, Spurs were putting their fans to the test because even before Nunes’ goal, when the tide turned, there was a lurking fear that Ange Postecoglou’s team would throw the goal away.

Perhaps that was the reason why the celebrations were so lively after the six minutes of stoppage time had expired, the music was blaring and everyone was dancing. They played the Abba song for Dejan Kulusevski because he was excellent, the driving force.

Spurs had done it. They had the result that gave new vigor and confidence to their season, and it was one they deserved, no matter how hard they made it. On Sunday they suffered a defeat at Crystal Palace, their worst performance of the season. This is where the positive emotions increased. Could there finally be a trophy for her?

Both Postecoglou and Guardiola made changes, although neither lineup could be described as weakened, and the former lost Micky van de Ven to a hamstring injury in the 13th minute; He wasn’t the only player to suffer an injury. By this point, however, Spurs had already scored well, and Werner scored his first goal of the season after a break set up by Brennan Johnson and a lovely low cross from Kulusevski.

Guardiola started with Phil Foden in the No.9 role, James McAtee worked on him and it was strange to see City struggling to connect their passes early on. Ilkay Gündogan missed John Stones on the edge of the penalty area and was lucky that Werner shot directly at Stefan Ortega.

When Pape Sarr made it 2-0 midway through the first half, Spurs were in nosebleed territory. Kulusevski worked a short corner with Werner and Sarr launched his long throw well outside the near post. To Ortega’s surprise, the midfielder managed to get the ball back into the goal at the last moment. The technology was wonderful.

At this point the Spurs stopped doing what they were doing before, falling behind and making mistakes. The city began to gain a foothold. They created opportunities. Nunes almost found Foden after overtaking Archie Gray. After another Nunes ball, Foden shot a high volley.

When injury time reached four minutes, there was a groan from the home crowd. Foden had just lifted a free-kick clear of goal after Destiny Udogie, who came on as a substitute for Spurs, got into trouble. It was like they knew what was coming. This happened when Savinho beat Udogie with a cross and Nunes found himself all alone at the far post.

Postecoglou knew his team needed to exert more energy at the start of the second half, and they did. They kept getting behind City’s high finishing line a good hour ago, but they lacked the buffer for a third goal.

“Timo Werner scores when he wants to,” the south stand chanted in the first half. You know it’s not true. Werner missed a one-on-one with Ortega and had another great chance. Johnson had extended Ortega and the goalkeeper also threw out a hand to thwart Kulusevski as he made a run to the inside right.

Spurs suffered another injury blow when Cristian Romero had to be substituted, while City, after losing Manuel Akanji in the warm-up, watched as Savinho was taken away on a stretcher after a nasty fall. In came 19-year-old Jacob Wright.

Spurs lost Werner to a groin problem and had to deal with the knowledge that they should have been out of sight; One flash from City could ruin everything. Wright almost did it. He took the ball confidently on the edge of the penalty area and directed his shot just a few centimeters past the post. It was close. O’Reilly walked closer. City will have to look elsewhere for titles this season.

“The news is not that we lost, but how long we didn’t lose,” Guardiola said. “It was [like] the FA Cup final [against Manchester United last season] and we were a bit hungover. I don’t like losing, but this competition is a little different.”