You Have to Beat the Best

...Even when they aren't at their best. Sure, Manchester City didn't put out as weakened of a side as Pep Guardiola had promised, and with both teams having some key injuries it probably balanced out, but Spurs still had to put in maximum effort to come out on top. Another home match awaits in the next round, against the other half of Manchester, but we'll savor this win for now.

In this issue: Manchester City recap | Previewing the weekend matches | News from around the Lane

This weekend, the Women's team is finally back in action with a London derby against West Ham United. But because the universe hates Tottenham, their return is happening simultaneously with the Men's team's latest grudge match with Aston Villa. Even more annoyingly for local fans, they're both home fixtures, so matchgoing fans will have to make a choice. For the rest of us farther afield, it's going to be a two-screen kind of day.

Men's League Cup Round 4 | Tottenham 2 - 1 Manchester City

Werner 5', Sarr 25' | Nunes 45+4'

It's always satisfying to beat City, but especially when we get to add another tally to the number of wins against them at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Plus, it served as a bit of revenge for City knocking us out of last season's FA Cup.

It wasn't an uncomplicated win, however. Injury concerns are mounting rather than lessening.

The other big storyline from the game was Son Heung-min's pitchside fashion. While I like this outfit in theory, something about the color balance wasn't quite right for me. I'm always of the opinion that a predominantly light-colored layer needs to be paired with an equally light or muted base, so this white patterned jacket with a dark burgundy turtleneck looked off-kilter to my eye. But I appreciate Sonny finally wearing a pattern that isn't Burberry plaid (although he's always worn it to great effect, to be fair!), and the strapping details around the pockets on the jacket and cargo pants were a fun touch. If you aren't familiar with the brand Sonny was wearing, S.S.DALEY, you should check it out; I'm always a sucker for quirky knitwear.

I'm disappointed that we didn't get to see Sonny without the jacket on, because the sweater has some shoulder cutouts that would definitely be a different look from his usual vibe. Alas.

Okay, enough fashion talk, back to the football. Hopefully we get to see Sonny in his kit next game instead.

Starting XI:

Although Djed Spence had been back in training, he didn't make the matchday squad after all. He would have been a useful backup for Micky Van de Ven, who started at left fullback but had to leave the match early with a hamstring injury. Instead, Destiny Udogie didn't get to rest much at all and played 75+ minutes off the bench.

It was notable that Pape Sarr started and scored in another cup match, as he's been an important contributor in both of the cup competitions so far (Carabao and Europa League). Archie Gray also got to start again, this time at right fullback.

Perhaps it could be significant that James Maddison was an unused substitute, but it could be merely a rest-based decision. Pedro Porro also remained on the bench, as did youngster Lucas Bergvall who is likely having his minutes managed.

The other big call was the left winger position. With limited choices, Ange Postecoglou opted to give Timo Werner another shot.

Let's start with Timo Time—the Good Way edition.

Key highlights and takeaways:

• Werner was under a lot of pressure to finally deliver a goal, and he did. He got a massive assist, literally, from Dejan Kulusevski's pinpoint cross from the right flank. One does have to wonder why City ceded the entire right side of their defensive third to Werner, but Dominic Solanke did help by drawing Rico Lewis towards him with his decoy run. I guess you can't blame City for thinking Werner was the least worrying threat in our attacking line.

Timo must have been feeling confident going into this game, because over my many years of watching him play for either Germany or Spurs (with varying levels of exasperation), I have come to conclude that these kinds of scenarios where he does have a lot of space and time to think are the situations where he's least likely to score. Overthinking has been a major issue for his finishing. Thankfully, he bucked the trend in this case.

• We scored a set piece goal! Kulusevski and Werner worked a short corner routine to great effect, with Deki finding Sarr in acres of space well outside the 18-yard box. He didn't hesitate to shoot with his first touch and curled the ball perfectly around Stefan Ortega into the net. It was just a gorgeous, pure strike of the ball. It was delicious listening to the commentator eat his words after saying Ortega didn't see it. Nope, the shot was just that good.

• That being said, Ortega was one of the top performers for City, making five saves to keep them in the game.

• We're somewhat fortunate that Phil Foden didn't have his shooting boots on. I can recall at least two clear opportunities on goal that he sent wide or over the goal, including a free kick that City won when the official called a bogus foul on Cristian Romero (he truly never gets the benefit of the doubt).

• Matheus Nunes did get one back for City in first-half stoppage time. Unfortunately, it was a near-identical concession to several of the goals we've given up over the last few games: Udogie failed to close down Savinho and allowed a cross in front of the goal, finding Nunes unmarked because the marking assignments had broken down. Gray had been drawn centrally by a run from James McAtee, and it probably should have been Romero that went out to cover him, but neither he nor the arriving Brennan Johnson could do anything to prevent Nunes from getting his shot off.

• What followed after halftime was the most tense scoreless half I've watched in a long time. Ange swapped out Sarr for Yves Bissouma at the break to add some extra protection for the defense, but otherwise, the game plan remained the same. We took up counter-attacking opportunities with our pacy wingers. Werner got on the end of one such chance but misjudged his final couple of touches and Ortega forced a wide shot with his positioning. Ortega also made a fingertips save on a Kulusevski shot.

• Midway through the second half, Johnson and Werner could run no more, both having played against Crystal Palace on the weekend (and Johnson starting that game as well). Mikey Moore and Richarlison replaced them, with Richarlison taking up a winger position for the first time this season (if I recall correctly). He had a golden opportunity to score but sent his shot straight at Ortega.

• In addition to Van de Ven's premature exit from the game, Romero also went off early with what Postecoglou called "fatigue." Hopefully it's nothing more serious than that.

• In perhaps the scariest moment of the game, from the Tottenham perspective, City had a corner kick a couple of minutes before stoppage. Guglielmo Vicario tried to come out to claim the ball but missed, partially because two other Spurs players were also challenging for the ball and inadvertently blocked him. Bissouma made a goal-line clearance to keep the visitors from equalizing—and therefore prevented a penalty shootout.

• Joško Gvardiol, who's been scoring often in the league, had another late chance for City but sent his header off target.

You could definitely say this was a fun game for the neutral, but frankly, it was fun for us supporters, too—in a nerve-wracking, shouting at the ref to "call the game!" kind of way. Ange certainly looked jubilant at the final whistle after getting one over on Pep. And it always means something to see players like Solanke collapsing in exhaustion after putting in a relentless shift of hard work and grit. Too many times in past seasons there have been cup games where the players didn't look fully committed or focused, but you can't say that about this team's performance against City. They were all in, and now we're on our way to the quarter-finals.

SAtP Player of the Match: Dejan Kulusevski

Who am I to argue with the menacing Carabao longhorn skull? It has spoken.

Beyond his two assists, Deki also demonstrated that level of dogged intent and leadership-by-example that we have come to expect from him this season. We've already seen his ability to link up with the likes of Johnson, Son, and Maddison, and now he's also formed a budding partnership with Werner.

Notable and quotable:

• We have been drawn at home to Manchester United for the next round. This fixture will take place the week commencing December 16.

• Archie Gray spoke on the togetherness and collective spirit of the team:

With everything we do, we treat each other like family and that's a big topic around here because if you treat your teammates like family then you'll be ready to do everything for them on the pitch.

• Since Tottenham Hotspur Stadium opened, we have beaten Manchester City in 6 out of 8 home fixtures, all competitions.

Previewing PL Matchday 10 — Aston Villa

With the way other fixtures have gone this weekend, we simply have to get a win against Aston Villa. In doing so, we could go as high as 6th place in the Premier League table (dependent on the Manchester United vs Chelsea result—we need a Chelsea loss) and close the gap with Villa to just one point. It's also worth noting that we have the third-highest goal difference in the league currently (joint with Chelsea), so it would be nice to build on that, especially with how close the table is at the moment overall.

While Aston Villa have been flying high in the Champions League (I'm still salty about the Bayern game, thanks for asking), they've been less consistent in the league of late. They have a loss and two draws in their last four fixtures. To be fair, we have two losses in the same stretch. Both teams will be looking to lay the foundation for some momentum with a result in this game.

Interestingly, Matty Cash didn't play in Villa's last game. I'm sure they were saving him for maximum carnage in our matchup. In fact, they only have one injury at the moment, Ross Barkley.

Spurs' injury situation is not looking so positive. Although Son Heung-min is expected to be in contention, Micky van de Ven is a new addition to the injury list. He's going to miss a minimum of three games but will hopefully be back after the international break. Could have been worse! I didn't hear any confirmation of what Wilson Odobert's actual (new? reaggravated?) injury concern is, but he won't be involved either. There could also be some players with fatigue concerns, like Cristian Romero.

Although I've been feeling more confident in Radu Drăgușin of late, I'm still not convinced that he and Cristian Romero make for a strong centerback partnership. It's not like we have a preferable configuration if Romero is unable to play due to fitness concerns (Ben Davies lacks the pace to deal with Ollie Watkins properly, and Archie Gray is still too green in the CB position), so let's hope they make some progress in working together.

Much as I would like to see Son start, it would probably be wiser to reserve him as an impact substitute—lest he keep prolonging his injury layoff. This would also give Timo Werner a chance to build on his goal from the cup game.

We know that Villa are a physical team, so we'll need to have learned some lessons from the Crystal Palace loss. On that note, I just looked to see who the head official is—Craig Pawson—and immediately felt less confident. But maybe he's done some learning, too.

Previewing WSL Matchday 6 — West Ham United

Another fixture between two teams who definitely don't hate each other, nope, not at all!

Candidly though, even with all of our injury concerns at the moment we should be beating this West Ham team handily. It's time to transform this derby from one of chaos to one of single-team domination on Spurs' side.

We gave up far too many goals to them last season, despite winning both fixtures, so if we're as focused on improving the defense as Robert Vilahamn claims, there's no time like the present to start.

One thing that isn't going to change in the defense is the goalkeeper; Katelin Talbert is ineligible to play against her parent club, and Becky Spencer appears to have returned from international duty unscathed, so don't expect to see Eleanor Heeps finally get her first senior appearance. Then again, you never know.

We got a slight boost to the availability list, with Hayley Raso, Amy James-Turner, and Wang Shuang all upgraded from being solidly out of contention to being game-time decisions. They all trained during the international break and will now be assessed for a return to play. We have definitely missed Raso on the right wing (Vilahamn has often played a striker there rather than give more game time to summer signing Anna Csiki), and James-Turner could be a big boost to the defense, if only by providing competition for the centerback spots (side note: it's peculiar that Luana Bühler has yet to make an appearance in WSL play). Wang is more of wildcard since we have seen so little of her since she joined in January, but that element of surprise could also work to our advantage.

Nobody seems to have picked up new injuries while on international duty, and many of our players got on the scoresheet with either a goal or an assist. Historically this is a high-scoring fixture for us, so I would expect that attacking momentum to carry over to their club play.

West Ham do not have attacking momentum. Of the two players I'd consider their most potent threats on goal, Viviane Asseyi and Riko Ueki, only the latter has scored a goal so far this WSL season. In fact, the entire team only has two goals total. They did score six goals in their League Cup fixture against Portsmouth, but Portsmouth are currently dead last in the Championship with zero points. West Ham are winless themselves in league play.

If we don't gain three points in this fixture, there's a very real chance we go six games straight in the league without a win. We have Manchester City and Arsenal coming up next—although we will at least have home-field advantage in the NLD, taking place at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

News from around the Lane

• The BBC and Sky Sports agreed to a new five-year deal to broadcast the WSL. As far as I know, the current US-market broadcast deal with ESPN/ESPN+ is only for this current season, so it will be interesting to see if they also extend or if the games will possibly go back to CBS/Paramount+, or to some other network or streamer entirely. Regardless, I have been enjoying the ease of the YouTube experience for the non-broadcast games. Speaking of, this weekend's WSL game against West Ham is on YouTube for both markets.

• A quick Spurs Men loan update:

• Alejo Véliz scored his first senior hat trick with Espanyol in the Copa del Rey
• Dane Scarlett scored this weekend for Oxford United and has three goals in his last four games
• Ashley Phillips scored in Stoke City's loss against Southampton in the League Cup, his first senior goal.

• I feel compelled to share this clip of Brennan Johnson talking about his admiration for Son Heung-min because it turned me into the Kermit heart meme.

(Sorry for the Twitter link, but it's worth it, trust me.)

See y'all on Spurs Sunday!

COYS

Thank you for reading!

If you’re enjoying the newsletter, make sure to sign up for a free subscription to receive new issues in your inbox. You can also buy me a Ko-fi to support my work with a one-time tip. Your support keeps Spurs Across the Pond running and is much appreciated!

You can also find me on Twitter and podcasting at N17 Women and The Tottenham Depot.