Man City's best work at Tottenham came away from the TV cameras

When Manchester City headed off for the Club World Cup in December, they had just five clean sheets to their name for the season.

Five out of 26 was a huge drop on the defensive diligence that had brought Pep Guardiola's side so much success this year, with the manager clear that it had been their biggest upgrade that brought them the Treble. Trying to win the three biggest trophies every year is a tough benchmark, yet those are the standards City have to be judged against.

And up until the middle of December, it wasn't good enough. The players could reasonably say there had been some misfortune involved in some of the goals, yet they were conceding too many and in too many matches for it not to affect their results; there was a reason the squad held talks to clear the air after their defeat to Aston Villa.

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In the desert, and with opponents of a slightly lower standard, City's muscle memory kicked in. No goals were conceded as they beat Urawa Red Diamonds and Fluminense to clinch their fifth trophy of 2023 and head back to Manchester with confidence that had not been there when they left.

It hasn't been flawless since they returned, yet they have kept as many clean sheets (three) in their last five games as they have conceded goals. After five clean sheets in their first 26 games, their next five have taken just seven.

Shutting out Tottenham away is probably the most impressive of the lot. Son Heung-min may have been thousands of miles away but City still had a dreadful record at the stadium and Ange Postecoglou's Spurs had scored in every one of their games before