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Man City ratings: Gundogan 5/10, Sterling 4/10 as penalty woes continue

Manchester City remain 22 points behind Liverpool in the Premier League table after falling to a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday.

After Ilkay Gundogan missed a penalty in a dominant opening hour for the visitors, Oleksandr Zinchenko was sent off for two bookable offences. Spurs took advantage two minutes later as debutant Steven Bergwijn fired home an excellent half-volley to put Spurs ahead, before Heung-min Son made the points safe when his shot deflected home off Fernandinho after 71 minutes.

Positives

The only thing that was missing from an imperious first half from City was a goal, with Riyad Mahrez and Sergio Aguero probing and threatening to open Spurs up at will.

Negatives

City should really have been out of sight and halfway up the M1 by the time Zinchenko was shown his second yellow card for a tactical foul that Pep Guardiola's side have become notorious for, and City's failure to take a string of guilt-edged chances - including a poor Gundogan penalty - proved to be their undoing in the final half-hour.

Manager rating out of 10

6 -- Guardiola can't legislate for his world class forwards failing to finish off chances, and if the Spaniard had any hair left, he would be pulling it out after watching City's profligacy in front of goal.

Player ratings (1-10; 10 = best, players introduced after 70 minutes get no rating)

GK Ederson, 6 -- Had a heart-in-mouth moment when he misjudged a bouncing pass, with Lucas Moura almost nipping the keeper to the ball. Powerless to prevent either of Spurs' powerfully struck goals, but didn't have much of a save to make apart from that.

DF Oleksandr Zinchenko, 5 -- Yellow-carded for his part in a fracas after City looked for a second penalty, before cynically barging Harry Winks to halt a Spurs break and was shown a second booking and a red card.

DF Nicolas Otamendi, 5 -- The Argentine looked the less steady of the City central defensive pairing, and got sucked into coming out of his position to charge at a ball that wasn't there to be won, and Son made use of the space in behind to fire home his side's second.

DF Fernandinho, 6 -- It was a largely solid display from the holding midfielder-turned centre half, but his deflection of Son's strike put the ball out of reach of Ederson and into the back of the net to put the game beyond the visitors.

DF Kyle Walker, 6 -- Found his way into referee Mike Dean's notebook for pulling back Lucas in a rare Spurs first-half attack, but prevented a big chance falling to Dele Alli at the back post shortly after with a brilliant glancing header to divert the danger. City's most impressive defender on the day.

MF Rodri, 6 -- The Spaniard isn't quite the finished article as a single-pivot in the City midfield, and can occasionally look a bit scruffy when he's put under pressure, but not a bad game by any means. Booked for a hack at Erik Lamela in the 94th minute.

MF Ilkay Gundogan, 5 -- Had a great chance to put his side ahead towards the end of the first half, but his tame penalty was comfortably saved by Lloris. He should have had a simple tap-in early in the second half, but Raheem Sterling's poor pass made the chance way more difficult than it needed to be, and the German subsequently fired over from ten yards out.

MF Kevin de Bruyne, 6 -- One of a handful of City players to have something of an off day. The Belgian was a somewhat peripheral figure and didn't quite make his way into the thick of the game.

MF Raheem Sterling, 4 -- It never looked like being his day after picking up an early yellow card for a nasty follow-through on Alli as the two contested a 50-50, and Sterling could quite easily have been shown a second yellow after going down under minimal contact from the Spurs keeper when following up Gundogan's missed penalty. A poor pass to Gundogan made what should've been a sitter a very missable opportunity, and his day came to an end on 83 minutes when he was replaced by Bernardo Silva.

MF Riyad Mahrez, 6 -- The right-winger looked like the most likely candidate to make something happy for City, and he prized open the Spurs backline a couple of times, but his City colleagues were unable to do him justice and finish the job. Brought off straight after Spurs' second, and replaced by Gabriel Jesus.

FW Sergio Aguero, 6 -- The on-form Argentine will be scratching his head as to how he emerged from the first half without finding the net, after hitting the post via an excellent Lloris save, before skewing wide with the goal at his mercy in injury time. Won his side a penalty after drawing Serge Aurier into making a crazy tackle in the box. Hooked after Spurs' opener for Joao Cancelo as Guardiola looked to plug the gap following Zinchenko's red card.

Substitutes

Joao Cancelo, 6 -- One of many City players to lack a quality final ball when it mattered.

Gabriel Jesus, N/A -- Had a sniff of a chance when he almost got on the end of a lofted Fernandinho pass, but Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris was alert to the danger and snuffed out the chance.

Bernardo Silva, N/A -- An 89th minute shot was well blocked by Spurs sub Eric Dier.