From 2019 to 2021, it seems Tottenham Hotspur manager Nuno Espirito Santo has a hold over his Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola.
What’s the story?
The Lilywhites overcame the Citizens in a sensational Premier League encounter yesterday.
Heung-Min Son ensured his side took all three points with a fantastic curling effort into Ederson’s bottom right-hand corner.
It is not the first time the Portuguese coach has overcome the Spaniard.
Back in 2019, Nuno’s Wolves side won 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium with a brace from Adama Traore.
On that day, the 47-year-old praised his team’s performance as he lauded Traore.
Fast forward to yesterday and nothing has changed, except this time he has lavished Japhet Tanganga with praise.
Meanwhile, there has been a change in how Guardiola saw two years ago to how he saw yesterday.
Two years ago, the former Barcelona figure had only his own team to blame as they faltered.
But, yesterday, it seems Guardiola had three ready made excuses in Covid-19, the Euros and Kevin de Bruyne’s lack of fitness.
All in all, the former Porto figure has the joint-most wins (3) versus Guardiola of any coach in England.
Guardiola looking to deflect blame
It was a whirlwind summer for the north Londoners for a raft of different reasons.
First they faltered in their attempts to hire Antonio Conte and Paulo Fonseca.
Then their transfer business took longer than expected as they haggled for a deal with Atalanta over Cristian Romero.
All in all, it led many to predict a day of misery against Manchester City.
But, bar the opening 20 minutes, that could not be more further from the truth.
And it seems despite no change from Nuno in both his tactics and post-match comments, Guardiola is looking for excuses.
Guardiola is looking to deflect the blame after both Tottenham and Nuno overcame the odds.
It is prime Jose Mourinho tactics.
Meanwhile, some City fans were wowed by a Spurs player yesterday.
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