How streetwise Tottenham delivered a masterclass in darker arts to upset Man City

During the second half of Tottenham’s stunning 3-2 win at Manchester City on Saturday, Hugo Lloris denied Ilkay Gundogan a second goal with a flying one-handed save.

The stop preserved Spurs’ 2-1 lead and, for Lloris, went some way to making amends for his earlier blunder allowing Gundogan to equalise.

For a split second, the Spurs goalkeeper looked poised to leap back to his feet to defend the corner but then he appeared to feel a pain, and stayed down, delaying the restart.

After a minute or so, Lloris was back on his feet but his side had regrouped and City’s corner came to nothing.

Lloris may have been suffering the delayed effects of the fall or it may have been one of several moments of canny gamesmanship, designed to eat up time and disrupt City’s rhythm, which littered Tottenham’s performance.

After a week in which his marriage with the club appeared increasingly brittle, Antonio Conte pulled off a tactical masterclass against the champions but his side’s display was also noteworthy for their bloody commitment to the dark arts.

Lloris was one of the number of players to take the opportunity to stay down or time-waste, with the Frenchman eventually booked for his delays.

In the moments before City’s second equaliser for 2-2, match-winner Harry Kane, Cristian Romero and Eric Dier all stayed down, apparently injured.

Midfielders Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, meanwhile, took turns to tactically foul City, playing Pep Guardiola’s side at their own game, the latter finally earning a yellow card just after the hour and prompting a frustrated reaction from Kevin de Bruyne.

Cristian Romero niggled away at the hosts, while Emerson Royal and Hojbjerg threw themselves to the ground at every contact, only