Mahrez masterminds stirring Man City second-half comeback to see off Spurs
City started the better of the two teams and began to find their rhythm after a tepid opening to the game, with Jack Grealish looking to exploit space down the left. He fed in Ilkay Gundogan and Julian Alvarez, but neither of their respective efforts troubled Hugo Lloris.
Antonio Conte’s men had offered very little going forward, as Son Heung-Min forced Ederson into a first, albeit comfortable save of the match to keep out his header from an enticing Ben Davies cross.
Rico Lewis could have been the unlikely man to set this cagey contest alight, and his speculative strike was pushed to safety at the last moment by Lloris after taking a wicked deflection off Son.
However, the first half came to a crazy conclusion with Spurs netting twice in the space of three dreadful first-half minutes for Ederson.
His attempted pass to Rodri was intercepted by Rodrigo Bentancur inside the box, allowing Dejan Kulusevski to pick up the loose ball and fire home to break the deadlock.
That led was doubled when the Brazilian could only parry Harry Kane's shot into the path of compatriot Emerson Royal, who nodded home the rebound to leave Spurs on course for another memorable night at the Etihad.
City had only won one of their previous 54 league games after trailing by more than two goals at half-time, but managed to wipe out Tottenham’s lead with two goals in the space of three second-half minutes.
Mahrez was the instigator, as his cross created havoc in the area, and Alvarez rifled home the loose ball. Rodri then provided a sumptuous ball towards Mahrez, who headed the ball onto Haaland to end his two-game goal drought in the league and level the scores.
The comeback was completed by the irrepressible Mahrez, whose right-footed strike took the faintest of deflections off Davies to squeeze past Lloris at the near post.
A fourth City goal sweetened the deal in the closing stages courtesy of the magnificent Mahrez, who ruthlessly punished Clement Lenglet’s indecisiveness in defence and provided a beautiful dinked finish over Lloris.
Conte’s men were left rueing what might have been after another sobering defeat to follow Sunday’s bruising 2-0 loss to Arsenal, and are still waiting to win consecutive matches on the road this season.
Their prospects of qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League remain slim, and they’re now five points adrift of fourth-placed Newcastle United having played a game more than the Magpies.
Meanwhile, City avoided the ignominy of a third straight league defeat to Spurs and stayed firmly in the title hunt.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City)