Spurs comeback stuns City

City led through Samir Nasri’s early strike before Spurs hit back with three goals in seven second-half minutes.

Clint Dempsey’s tap-in levelled before Jermain Defoe fired past Joe Hart. Gareth Bale, returning from injury, dinked a third as Spurs moved to within a point of fourth-placed Chelsea.

Bale’s goal capped a dramatic turnaround in north London and means United will clinch their 20th top-flight crown by beating Aston Villa at Old Trafford on Monday.
Roberto Mancini’s defending champions are 13 points adrift of their cross-city rivals with five games left to play for both sides. Yet for the majority of the match it seemed as though City would clinch a routine win and keep their slim hopes of retaining the title alive after Nasri steered in James Milner’s pullback.

Tottenham went into the match on the back of a 10-day break following their Europa League exit at Basel but they produced a lethargic display until bursting into life after Dempsey’s equaliser.

Up to that point, City’s assurance in possession, coupled with their willingness to drive forward on the counter-attack, served to frustrate the majority inside a subdued White Hart Lane.

The visitors spurned several chances to double their lead as Nasri poked wide from Carlos Tevez’s ingenious flick and Spurs keeper Hugo Lloris stopped the Argentine striker’s header with an instinctive one-handed save.

But Dempsey, clearly on-side despite the protest of the City defence, pounced at the far post to convert Bale’s outside-of-the-boot cross and punish their profligacy.
Suddenly, the home crowd found their voices and the players found their belief as they upped the tempo in search of the lead.

It came four minutes later when substitute Defoe, who had only just entered the action as a replacement for the ineffective Emmanuel Adebayor, cut inside City skipper Vincent Kompany before unleashing a unstoppable angled drive past Hart.

Spurs looked a completely different team as their energy levels rose, in contrast to a City team who started to look like they were feeling the effects, both mentally and physically, of a hectic week.

The Blues enjoyed the high of reaching the FA Cup final by beating last-four opponents Chelsea at Wembley on Sunday, before grinding out a 1-0 Premier League win against Wigan on Wednesday.

Spurs talisman Bale, who has missed two games with ankle ligament damage, was almost anonymous in the opening 75 minutes before he followed up his assist for the equaliser by scoring the third.

The Welshman latched on to a piercing throughball from another Spurs substitute, Tom Huddlestone, and managed to hold off Gael Clichy to coolly clip over the head of Hart.
Victory leaves fifth-placed Tottenham one point adrift of Chelsea, who currently occupy the final Champions League qualification place, and two points behind third-placed Arsenal.

But Spurs have a game in hand on the Gunners, meaning a place in Europe’s premier club competition remains in their hands as they enter the final month of the season.

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said, “It was a great game and the players did ever so well to come back into it. In the first half we didn’t play with confidence, but we always had the desire to come back into the game. In the second half everything changed and we played with more confidence. We found more spaces and we found the back of the net, deservedly.

“Gareth (Bale) gave us the green light — he was fully prepared. Physically he’s a monster and played 90 minutes, a great, great performance. Credit to him.”
Meanwhile, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said no individual was “bigger than the club” as he pledged to review the incident where Luis Suarez appeared to bite Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic.

The Reds striker, 26, clashed with the Serbian defender during the second-half of the 2-2 draw at Anfield.
“This is a club with incredible values and ethics,” said Rodgers.

“We’ll review it as a club, because there’s certainly no one bigger than this club, a player or manager.”
Ivanovic, 29, complained to referee Kevin Friend that he had been bitten on his right arm by Suarez after their clash inside the Chelsea penalty area.

Chelsea interim boss Rafael Benitez refused to comment on the incident.
“As football managers and staff and players, we’re representing this club, off the field and in particular on the field,” added Rodgers.

“But it’s not the time to comment on it now. I’ll always speak openly and honestly about the players and protect them when I can, but with all due respect I’ll make an honest appraisal of it (first).

“I’ll always defend people if I think they’re right — if I think they’re wrong I’ll tell them, and that’s already happened with Luis this year. And then we move on from it. If that’s what the case is, they’ve got to accept the consequences accordingly.”

Former Ajax captain Suarez was given a seven-match ban for biting PSV Eindhoven midfielder Otman Bakkal in November 2010.
Ex-Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson, who was covering the match for BBC Radio 5 live, said referee Friend would have sent off the Uruguayan had he seen the incident. — BBC Sport.