All eyes were on Tottenham’s Harry Kane and his potential move to Manchester City heading into the match, but the striker did not join the squad Sunday, leaving room for Son Heung-min to steal the spotlight.
After a 0-0 first half, Spurs forward Steven Bergwijn fed Son on the counter-attack, who deked out City defender Nathan Ake and blasted a left-footed strike along the ground from well outside the box past goalkeeper Ederson.
And that was enough to earn three points in Nuno Espírito Santo’s first Premier League match as Tottenham’s gaffer, against the league champions and without prolific goalscorer Kane no less. Kane was reportedly kept out of the squad due to a lack of fitness.
As usual, Pep Guardiola’s side dominated the ball with 65 per cent of the possession, and even outshot Tottenham with four shots on target to two, but failed to truly test Spurs ‘keeper Hugo Lloris.
Jack Grealish, the £100-millon (US$139 million) man, made his debut for City, playing all 90 minutes, registering three shot attempts and one on target, and driving much of the play, but ultimately left the match with just a yellow card to show for.
Tottenham next plays Nuno’s former club, Wolverhampton Wanderers, while Manchester City takes on Norwich City for its home opener at Etihad Stadium next week in Premier League action.
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West Ham United (4) vs. Newcastle United (2)
West Ham United entered St. James Park on Sunday hoping to begin the Premier League campaign building off a strong sixth-place finish last season.
The game got off to a rocky start for the Hammers as Newcastle United’s Allan Saint-Maximin found striker Callum Wilson’s head with a driven cross to open the scoring in front of a raucous home crowd five minutes into the match.
West Ham equalized after defender Aaron Cresswell sent a trickling ball through the box and into the back of the net, but the Magpies took the lead again heading into half-time courtesy of Jacob Murphy’s header.
The second half, however, was all West Ham. The Hammers scored three unanswered goals in a span of 13 minutes largely thanks to the electric play of striker Michail Antonio.
Said Benrahma kicked things off by finishing Antonio’s cross, then towering midfielder Tomas Soucek scored on the rebound of an Antonio saved penalty, and Antonio himself put the game out of reach with a blistering strike past Magpies ‘keeper Freddy Woodman.
West Ham plays Leicester for its home opener, as Newcastle travels to Aston Villa next week in Premier League action.
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