Tottenham vs. Manchester City: Score and Reaction from 2016 Premier League Match

Tottenham Hotspur handed Manchester City their first defeat under the reign of Pep Guardiola on Sunday after stunning the 2016-17 Premier League leaders 2-0 at White Hart Lane.

Aleksandar Kolarov scored an own goal for the hosts before Dele Alli put them two goals ahead as the half-time interval approached, and Claudio Bravo saved Erik Lamela's second-half penalty to prevent Spurs moving further in front.

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The north Londoners coped well in the absence of injured frontman Harry Kane as Heung-Min Son deputised in the central-striker role and helped set up Alli's 37th-minute strike.

The Independent's Mark Ogden noted this was a particularly strong display from Tottenham considering the factors at hand:

The Citizens started out on the front foot in Sunday's clash and enjoyed the better share of shots on goal in the opening exchanges, but a blinding mistake from Kolarov in front of goal saw their progress halted.

A fairly innocuous cross from Spurs left-back Danny Rose made its way to City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo's back post, and Kolarov bundled his attempted clearance with his weaker right foot into his own net, via Sky Football:

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WATCH: Uh-oh. A huge error from Aleksandar Kolarov. Can Pep's City turn it around at Tottenham? SS1 or NowTV. https://t.co/OeKFKjv7aJ

— Sky Football ⚽️ (@SkyFootball) October 2, 2016"

City continued to dominate the fixture in terms of pressure on goal, and WhoScored.com scored the match five to one in the hosts' favour in terms of shots on the opposition through 30 minutes, although Hugo Lloris' line held firm.

Alli then compounded City's anguish after Son squeezed a pass through to the onrushing midfielder for his second goal of the season, and OptaJoe highlighted his preference for scoring against big opposition:

Two goals down at the break, City faced a mountainous task in turning the scoreline back in their favour after the restart, with Guardiola under unfamiliar pressure to produce a result with backs to the wall.

Match of the Day also sourced a statistic from OptaJoe that suggested the table-toppers would be hard-pressed to produce points after slipping so far off the pace:

As impressive as Tottenham's stars were, it was the tactics of manager Mauricio Pochettino that really came to the fore as the game progressed, despite the hosts still accounting for the majority of shots on goal.

Fernandinho's foul on Alli in the area almost led to Tottenham moving three in front, but Bravo was equal to Lamela's spot-kick attempt as Paddy Power touched on the City's stopper's preference for using his feet:

Raheem Sterling endeavoured to get the away outfit back into the match after his fine start to the season, but a lot of his work down the left was put to waste as Sergio Aguero also struggled to hit top speed.

And that came to be the theme of Manchester City's day, as a group of stars who had looked imperious in their league displays up until this point came undone against a more banded outfit.

Alli was greeted with a hero's applause when he departed the pitch late on and was replaced by Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, while Son took his leave of the field in place of summer signing Vincent Janssen.

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Ex-Espanyol manager Pochettino came out on top of his first encounter against former Barcelona chief Guardiola, having so often played second fiddle to the Spaniard during their days in La Liga.

Spurs now sit just a point behind the Premier League leaders and might consider themselves well and truly capable of once again staking a claim on the title if they can recapture this kind of performance more often.

After drawing 3-3 at Celtic in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday and slumping to defeat here, City need a quick response at home to Everton in a fortnight's time as they look to avoid a three-match winless streak.

Post-Match Reaction

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While a first defeat of the Guardiola era might have been inevitable at some point, few might have predicted Spurs would run so rampantly over the Premier League leaders.

And Guardiola was forced to admit his former La Liga rival was every bit deserving of the result on Sunday, when he spoke to BBC Sport:

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They were better. We were not in the right positions so congratulations to them.

The first goal is quite similar to the one we conceded in Glasgow, it is always difficult to recover. We played much better in the last 15 or 20 minutes. We knew they would press us high, we wanted that but they did it better.

[Losing] It is part of the game, part of our job. I never thought that we would not lose a game, you can't imagine that. It is normal to the process, sometimes it happens and it can help us improve.

"

However, Guardiola was also quick to point out it's still early in the campaign and his team are very much capable of re-establishing their dominance:

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I am not here for the talk around me, I am here to do my job. It is October, you cannot imagine my team is already done. I am new here. So far it has been an amazing performance but we need more, we have to work more, it is what it is.

At the end of the season you can win and still realise that you are not perfect.

"

Manchester City may no longer be perfect in their run under Guardiola, but even with a blemish on their record, the Citizens remain on top of the Premier League for another week.