Tottenham's Conte masterminds 'perfect game' to stop Man City

MANCHESTER : Antonio Conte praised his Tottenham Hotspur side's ability to turn defence into attack as they shrugged off a dreadful recent run to stun Premier League leaders Manchester City with a Harry Kane-inspired 3-2 win at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

After three successive league defeats, Tottenham's top-four ambitions were fading and Conte's honeymoon period since taking charge in November was well and truly over.

But the Italian, who has been under the spotlight all week after an interview in which he appeared to suggest Tottenham had been left weakened in the transfer window, masterminded the "perfect game" to stop the Man City juggernaut.

Tottenham only had 28per cent of possession against City, but defended diligently and somehow always looked a threat on the counter-attack with Kane, who scored twice including the 96th minute winner, linking superbly with Son Heung-min.

City had made it 2-2 in stoppage time through Riyad Mahrez's penalty, and it looked likely that the leaders would even snatch a last-gasp win, but Tottenham had other ideas as they revived their hopes of challenging for the top four.

"You know when you play Manchester City you will concede 70per cent of possession. But I say to my players that when you are defending, in your mind you must always be attacking. In your mind you want to win the ball and attack," Conte, who had not lost three league games in a row as manager for 12 years, said.

"To have this thought, in the final minutes, their goal could have killed you. Instead my players wanted to win.

"I think in every moment of the game my team wanted to attack them. Every time we had the ball I was thinking we could hurt them."

The surprise win lifted Tottenham back into seventh spot and with