Tottenham Hotspur - 0 Manchester City - 2 Tottenham just about kissed goodbye to their hopes of qualifying for Europe after falling yesterday to a revitalised Manchester City.
Spurs are eighth, but could be overtaken today by Middlesbrough, Charlton and Southampton. Going by a tepid performance in which they were booed off at half and full time, Spurs would only embarrass themselves on the continental stage anyway and are probably better out of it.
"We needed maximum points out of this game and at West Brom on Monday," their manager, Glenn Hoddle, said in gloomy acceptance that their UEFA Cup hopes had evaporated. "But we won't give up - we'll try and finish as high as we can."
City, who had not scored in three games, could have been three up in three minutes. Kevin Keegan kept faith with strikers Nicolas Anelka and Robbie Fowler and from the kick-off the £13 million Frenchman almost scored, shooting just outside the post.
A minute later, Anthony Gardner got his feet tangled and Shaun Wright-Phillips broke away only to shoot wastefully over.
Then Gardner, having a wretched time in the absence of the injured Dean Richards, gave away a corner under pressure from Marc-Vivien Foe. Ali Benarbia swung the ball over, the unmarked David Sommeil put his head to it and City were one up with just two minutes and 12 seconds gone. "We started like a team determined to rebut the criticism we'd been getting," said Keegan. "We came up with the right attitude."
City increased their lead in the 21st minute. Fowler, sluggish but working hard, robbed Gardner, Anelka had the first chance but fluffed his shot and Fowler could not get the loose ball under control.
It ran, however, to Joey Barton and the 20-year-old midfielder, in only his third game, showed a remarkably cool head as he kept his shot low and saw it deflect past Keller into the far side of the net.
"I was very disappointed with the way we performed in the first half and I'm scratching my head to see where that performance came from," said Hoddle. "We put ourselves right on the back foot from the first minute and I don't think we had one individual anywhere near his best."
Spurs came out looking brighter in the second half, but, with City sitting deep to protect their lead, chances were few and far between. Teddy Sheringham, though, might have done better with two attempted volleys in the box, underlining Hoddle's need for a new striker to partner Robbie Keane.
Spurs have been linked with summer moves for Mark Viduka of Leeds, Chris Sutton of Celtic and Kevin Phillips of Sunderland, but all Hoddle would say was that he needed to freshen up the side. "We needed to score to get back in the game," added Hoddle. "We didn't deserve to win."
The other former England manager was more forthcoming. City can qualify for Europe themselves, via the back door of the Fair Play League, and Keegan was keen to play down his comments that he would be embarrassed to be in the UEFA Cup.
He said: "It's not the way I would like to get in there and I don't agree with it. But we'll go and play in it, don't get me wrong."
But this being Manchester City, the side he declared yesterday were Jekyll and Hyde, he had a rider: "Last season it was Ipswich and they got relegated. It can't be right."
Guardian Service
TOTTENHAM: Keller, Carr, Taricco (Perry 45), King, Gardner, Anderton, Bunjevcevic (Toda 45), Poyet (Acimovic 72), Davies, Sheringham, Keane. Subs Not Used: Sullivan, Iversen. Booked: Poyet, Carr.
MANCHESTER CITY: Schmeichel, Sommeil, Jensen, Distin, Dunne, Benarbia, Foe, Wright-Phillips, Barton, Fowler (Macken 81), Anelka. Subs Not Used: Nash, Jihai, Horlock, Goater. Booked: Dunne, Barton, Wright-Phillips. Goals: Sommeil 3, Barton 21. Attendance: 36,075.
Referee: M Riley (W Yorkshire).
