LONDON: Manchester City’s slim hopes of retaining the Premier League title were all but extinguished as they collapsed to a 3-1 defeat by Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Sunday.
Leading 1-0 through Samir Nasri’s early goal, City looked as though they would prolong the title race for another week at least but Tottenham produced a stunning burst of three goals in seven minutes to keep alive their hopes of a top-four finish.
With five games left, City are 13 points behind Manchester United, who will seal a 20th English title if they beat relegation-threatened Aston Villa at home on Monday.
Clint Dempsey levelled for Spurs after 75 minutes before substitute Jermain Defoe curled a superb second four minutes later to turn the match on its head.
Gareth Bale’s chip in the 82nd minute completed the comeback for the hosts.
In the late match Liverpool’s Luis Suarez scored a 97th-minute equaliser to rescue a 2-2 home draw with Chelsea
The London club twice took the lead with a header from Oscar and an Eden Hazard penalty either side of a Daniel Sturridge equaliser for Liverpool, before Suarez headed in at the death.
Spurs, in fifth, are one point behind Chelsea (62), with Arsenal on 63 points.
For much of the afternoon City looked comfortable against a Tottenham side whose season has hit the buffers of late, but they were guilty of sitting back after the break and were punished as Tottenham roared back to life.
Both sides needed a victory for differing reasons, although Tottenham’s need was perhaps the greater as barring a calamitous United collapse the title already looked beyond Roberto Mancini’s City side, who reached the FA Cup final last week.
Tottenham began brightly in the spring sunshine, with Bale, back after an ankle injury, in the thick of the action.
The home crowd were silenced when City took the lead with their first foray forward, however.
Carlos Tevez did well down the right to hold the ball up and, after occupying two Tottenham defenders, he slipped a clever pass for James Milner, whose low cross from the byline was prodded past Hugo Lloris by former Arsenal player Nasri.
Tottenham responded with Kyle Walker, who was lucky to escape serious injury from a rash tackle by Nasri that went unpunished, wasting a chance for Spurs when he was played in by a neat pass from Dempsey.
Nasri was inches away from making it 2-0 to City, who were dangerous on the break, while Lloris also saved his side when he plunged to keep out a Tevez header.
Tottenham enjoyed more of the ball after the break but with former City striker Emmanuel Adebayor almost anonymous in attack, a comeback did not look likely.
With time running out, however, a moment of hesitation by Vincent Kompany allowed Dempsey to slide in and convert Bale’s low cross into the area.
Energised, Tottenham were ahead four minutes later when Lewis Holtby played a diagonal pass to fellow substitute Defoe on the left and the England striker cut in to fire a right-foot shot past the dive of Joe Hart. (Reuters)
