Tottenham Hotspur claimed a major scalp on Wednesday night, eliminating Manchester City to book a spot in the fourth round of the EFL Cup.
Ange Postecoglou named a strong line-up for the mouth-watering clash, with only James Maddison, Pedro Porro, and Yves Bissouma missing from the side that lost 1-0 to Crystal Palace last weekend.
Despite coming up against a largely second-string Man City side, Postecoglou’s troops showed plenty of determination to book a spot in the quarter-final, and it paid off.
The north Londoners nudged ahead through unlikely hero Timo Werner, who latched on to a low cross from Dejan Kulusevski to rifle Spurs into the lead with his first goal of the season.
Tottenham put one foot into the last eight when they doubled their advantage before the half-hour mark, with Pape Matar Sarr sending a ferocious effort past Stefan Ortega.
Man City got back into the game on the stroke of half time through forgotten star Matheus Nunes, but it proved inconsequential as Spurs saw out a 2-1 victory.
One player that caught the eye in the memorable victory was Sarr.
The Senegalese midfielder only lasted 45 minutes on the pitch, but he was hugely influential, recording 21 touches, three tackles, 50% ground duels won, and 100% aerial battles won.
Sarr’s performance gives Postecoglou plenty to think about ahead of this weekend’s Premier League clash against Aston Villa at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
The Australian typically lines up with Maddison and Kulusevski as double eights on either side of one of Bssouma or Rodrigo Bentancur as a holding midfielder.
Sarr can easily slot into the team as an eight, but that would mean dropping one of Maddison or Kulusevski, who are considered key players in the first team.
Tottenham will be keen to bounce back from a deflating narrow defeat in the London derby and return to winning ways when they host Villa this weekend.
It remains to see how Postecoglou will shape his midfield to battle Villa’s physicality in the middle of the park, but the Australian will be keen for his side to come away with all three points in front of the home crowd.
Stats from Sofascore.com
