Here’s our match report. And that’s all from me – thanks for reading!
Elsewhere in the WSL, Manchester United finished 3-0 winners against Brighton, and Arsenal find themselves 1-0 down at home to Bristol City with 20 minutes gone.
Full-time: Man City 4-1 Tottenham
And that’s that. Spurs did not collapse and fought laudably, but ultimately City’s class shone through, the final scoreline a fair reflection of play. Chloe Kelly’s opener summed City up today: a cut above.
92 mins: From nowhere. Spurs’ captain Percival has a great chance, losing her marker from a corner and throwing herself at a high ball but heading wide.
90 mins: Harrop comes to the rescue at the back for Spurs, lunging to cut out Scott’s square ball, which was about to set up a tap-in for White.
88 mins: A rare touch for Roebuck, who backpedals to collects Kennedy’s high cross. City are seeing out the game comfortably here.
84 mins: Jill Scott, who’s been a model of composure since she came on, darts to the near post to meet a corner but can’t keep her header down.
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Goal! Man City 4-1 Tottenham (Filbey 80)
And from the resulting corner, whipped in beautifully – at long last – by Worm, Filbey rises highest and nods a looping header into the far corner.
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80 mins: Addison latches on to a lazy pass and batters at goal from long range. Roebuck parries the ball over.
79 mins: Switch for Tottenham: Lucia Leon comes on for Gemma Davison
78 mins: Stokes shows her class, skipping past two challenges on the left flank and swinging in a deep ball, just out of her attackers’ reach.
75 mins: A rare Spurs attack sees Davison burrow into the box and win a corner, but Worm’s delivery – again – is no good. City counter and White, through on goal, tries to play it square to Lavelle for a debut goal, but the pass is fractionally behind her and Zadorsky makes a last-ditch tackle.
71 mins: City changes: Mewis and Greenwood off, Scott and Stokes on.
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Goal! Man City 4-0 Tottenham (White 68)
Seconds after Becky Spencer produces a fingertip save to deny City a fourth, Ellen White gets on the scoresheet, flicking in from close range after Houghton met a lofted corner with a towering header.
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66 mins: City are looking for a fourth, Morgan enjoying herself on the right flank with a number of driving runs. She crosses towards White but Harrop intercepts and launches clear.
63 mins: Lavelle’s first touch is a good one, sparking a very smart one-two in a congested midfield before Harrop is booking for clattering Ellen White.
61 mins: Rianna Dean shows some fight, chasing a loose ball into her own half. And City make a double change, two-goal Kelly making way for for Park and Weir coming off for World Cup-winning debutant Lavelle.
57 mins: City are starting to look like they can score at will. White collects a through-ball and draws a save from Spencer. Spurs can’t get a touch and would surely take three-nil if it was offered to them now.
Goal! Man City 3-0 Tottenham (Mewis, 53)
Spurs have barely had a second to catch their breath. But again they defend without conviction, failing to clear the ball decisively before Mewis picks it up in the box, plays a one-two with Beckie, and lifts a calm finish into the roof of the net. And that, you would think, is that.
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Goal! Man City 2-0 Tottenham (Kelly pen, 52)
No mistake from the striker. Straight down the middle to double her tally.
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Penalty to City!
Percival bundles over Bonner, a clumsy challenge. Bonner made a meal of it but it was a foul.
48 mins: greenwood in the thick of the action early in the second half, this time clashing heads with Percival as they compete for a high ball. Percival checks her nose is still straight – it is – and hauls herself to her feet, dazed.
46 mins: Alex Greenwood latches on to a half cleared ball and rattles a low volley wide. City pick up where they left off.
Spurs are making a change: Kit Graham is replaced by striker Angela Addison. And we’re back under way.
And the teams are back out, City with a quick huddle led by a stern-looking Steph Houghton. It’s Spurs, though, who need the kick up the proverbial.
Manchester United are still leading Brighton 1-0, Ella Toone’s early penalty the difference. Half an hour to go there.
Half-time: Man City 1-0 Tottenham
Another opening for City as Sam Mewis collects a half-cleared ball, saunters forward and guides a low left-foot shot against the foot of the post. And that’s the last action of the half. Spurs can count themselves lucky-ish to only be one goal down given the obvious disparity in class, but they won’t be in the game for much longer unless they show some more quality and ambition going forward.
44 mins: And another. Rianna Dean charges after a weak backpass and clatters Roebuck as she hoofs clear.
42 mins: Spurs captain Josie Green collects a yellow for persistent fouling.
38 mins: City are turning the screw, refusing to give Spurs’ defenders a second’s rest on the ball, and will be doubling their lead sooner or later unless something really changes. Spurs need half-time.
35 mins: The goal came with Spurs’ Kit Graham down injured after being dispossessed. City saw and decided to play on: quite correctly.
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Goal! Man City 1-0 Tottenham (Kelly, 33)
What a strike! And it’s the goal she’s tried twice already this afternoon, picking the ball up on the left flank, ducking inside on to her right foot and whipping a magnificent strike into the far corner. Spencer gets fingertips to it, just, but can’t keep it out.
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30 mins: Houghton passes the ball with real urgency from centre-back. Again she zips the ball forward, this time into the feet of Weir, who’s fouled.
27 mins: Ellen White picks up a purposeful pass from Houghton, drifts past her marker with a lovely dummy and fires against the crossbar from 20 yards. Great effort.
25 mins: The best move of the game, as Beckie picks out the onrushing Morgan with a perfectly weighted ball between centre-back and full-back. Morgan’s low cross is bundled clear, but that was a moment of class.
21 mins: Kelly is one of the few who wants to run in behind and she receives the ball on the left from Weir, and delivers a carbon copy of her earlier chance, cutting inside and rifling one at goal. This time she goes for the near post, and it’s just wide. She’s been a livewire so far.
18 mins: Plenty more tidy passing from City midfield, Weir at the heart of it, but City are largely finding it hard to turn it into something meaningful. All their play has been in front of Spurs’ defence so far.
16 mins: Spurs are intent on playing it out from the back and 90% of the time are doing it pretty well. The other 10%, though, they are living on the edge. City press hungrily and have stolen the ball in good positions a few times already. Watch this space.
12 mins: City with another good chance, Mewis and Kelly linking up well for a move that ended with the former slicing a shot wildly. Spencer leaped to claim the ball but flapped at it and Beckie, with the goal gaping, scuffed her strike wide.
8 mins: Spencer looks like she might have hurt herself in the process. She’s down clutching the back of her leg and Spurs’ second-choice keeper in injured too so it’s third-choice Amy Martin on the bench: shirt number 99. Gulp. But Spencer is back up … for now at least.
7 mins: City get the first sight of goal. White picks out Kelly on the left, and she jinks infield, past two defenders, and rattles a shot towards the far corner. Spencer hurls herself across her goal and parries.
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5 mins: Filbey switches play well to the left, where Worm is scurrying forward. City recover possession and some patient possession play ends with an overhit pass forward. The hosts look the more comfortable on the ball already.
3 mins: Early warning sign for Spurs as Worm and Green contrive to give the ball away cheaply from a throw and City break in numbers. It amount to a corner, but Weir’s delivery is low and tame.
1 min: Ref Stacey Pearson blows her whistle, the players take the knee, and we’re away. Spurs look long for Davison but Steph Houghton wins a couple of early headers to cut out any danger.
City’s bench, with Gill Scott, Rose Lavelle, Lucy Bronze and Georgia Stanway, is very good indeed. In the meantime – the teams are out.
Elsewhere in the WSL: Manchester United lead Brighton thanks to a clinical finish from young striker Ella Toone.
So Sam Mewis, the USA World Cup winner who scored her first goal in English football to knock Arsenal out of the FA Cup in midweek, keeps her place at the heart of City’s midfield, while Georgia Stanway has to make do with a place on the bench despite her bright start to the season.
For Spurs, skipper Josie Green returns to the engine room in one of three changes from the side who took a pasting from their rivals last weekend.
The hardest part about coming back after pregnancy is being patient with myself. I can't wait to get on the pitch with my team, but that will have to wait until I'm 100% fit. 2nd week of team training down, and I'm feeling fitter & faster every day ⚪️🔵💪🏼 https://t.co/OYxeG1O0Oc
— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) October 4, 2020
Some pre-match reading – an interview with Alex Morgan, who watches on from the sidelines today:
Teams!
Tottenham: Spencer, Zadorsky, Green (C), Harrop, Filbey, Davison, Dean, Percival, Worm, Graham, Kennedy.
Subs: Martin, Leon, Addison, Quinn, Ayane, Godfrey, Neville.
Man City: Roebuck, Bonner, Houghton (C), Kelly, Beckie, Morgan, White, Weir, Mewis, Walsh, Greenwood.
Subs: Bardsley, Taieb, Stokes, Coombs, Scott, Stanway, Park, Bronze, Lavelle
Spurs need a lift. After an underwhelming start to their league campaign – a home draw with West Ham here, a defeat at Everton there – they were roundly walloped in the FA Cup last weekend, and by their locals rivals no less: four-nil to the Arsenal. Just as well, then, that they have the biggest signing in WSL history waiting in the wings.
But Alex Morgan will have to wait for her debut: she is still building up her fitness again having not played competitively for over a year. In the meantime her new teammates will have to prove their worth, not least Kit Graham, who gets the nod up front today and whose place will be most directly under threat once Morgan is in contention.
Manchester City, meanwhile, have vengeance on their mind, having been the first team in English football history to finish the season top of the league and yet see the title awarded to a rival. They’ve started the season with intent – three wins from fours – although they were frustrated by Brighton in their last WSL outing. The off-season has brought them a pair of shiny new full-backs from Lyon – namely England internationals Lucy Bronze and Alex Greenwood – as well as stellar midfielder Rose Lavelle, who made her debut in Thursday’s sinking of Arsenal. Up front, Georgia Stanway is hinting at the goalscoring form that made her so feared two seasons ago.
Plenty, then, for Spurs to ponder. Make a cuppa. Kick-off 12:30pm BST.
