Tottenham win at City again to continue strong start under Frank

Manchester, England: Tottenham Hotspur continued their impressive recent Premier League record at Manchester City with a 2-0 win on Saturday as Joao Palhinha took advantage of a goalkeeping blunder by James Trafford and Brennan Johnson also scored.

Spurs, who have now won three of their last five league games at the Etihad, maintained their unbeaten start under manager Thomas Frank following an opening 3-0 win over Burnley.

Both sides squandered chances before Johnson broke the deadlock in the 35th minute, thanks largely to lazy defending by Rico Lewis. Johnson latched onto a pass from Richarlison and finished with a shot into the top corner.

The goal was initially flagged for offside but that decision was overturned by VAR.

Palhinha, signed on loan from Bayern Munich this month, doubled the visitors' lead in first-half stoppage time when new signing Trafford inexplicably tried to play out from the back to nervy gasps from the crowd.

Richarlison pounced, rolling the ball to Palhinha whose deflected shot found the back of the net.

"First of all, the coach pushed me to come here and showed me the project he has here at Tottenham," Palhinha said. "It is such a great club, and I am really glad to be in the Premier League again."

The 22-year-old Trafford, meanwhile, started for the second successive game amid speculation that City's regular keeper Ederson is headed to Turkey's Galatasaray.

City, champions four years in a row before finishing third last season, started with a 4-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers, but Spurs brought them quickly back down to earth as thousands of home fans poured out of the ground before the final whistle.

Joyous Spurs supporters, meanwhile, chanted "It's happened again, Manchester City, it's happened again", after last season's 4-0 win at Etihad.

City had started well, Omar Marmoush forcing Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario into action and an Erling Haaland header that floating just over the bar.

Frank, who led Brentford to a 2-1 victory at Manchester City in 2022, became the third manager to beat City boss Pep Guardiola away in the league with two different teams after Jose Mourinho (Real Madrid and Manchester United) and Antonio Conte (Chelsea and Spurs).