City the comeback kings of Manchester
Manchester City are not just intent on preserving their status as Premier League top-dogs at Manchester United's expense, it seems they want to claim the title as comeback kings as well.
Less than 24 hours after United recovered from two goals down to win at Aston Villa, City battled back to a 2-1 win over Tottenham. And just as Javier Hernandez has become United's super-sub, so Edin Dzeko has done the same for City, scoring an 88th-minute winner after Sergio Aguero had levelled Steven Caulker's opener.
City coach David Platt is anxious for Dzeko not to get labelled super-sub, but admitted: "We can only pick 11 players. We have a lot of players who would play in almost any other Premier League team. Edin is one of those players."
He added: "We felt we needed an injection. We needed a little bit more height to get a platform to hold the ball up. We also know he is a goal threat and he is fresh. He has scored lots of goals this season and since he has been here he has scored some heavy goals."
Amazingly, while United have come from behind to win eight times this season in all competitions, City have done it four times in the Premier League. It moved them back to within two points of leaders United and extended their unbeaten home record in the Premier League to 35 games.
Not bad for a team said to be in crisis after another disappointing Champions League experience against Ajax in midweek. Platt said: "We are not playing to answer questions. We are playing to win football matches.
"That is what our focus is. We don't get motivated because people want to say things outside our camp. There is a football match to win that gets us three points."
Spurs boss Andre Villas-Boas acknowledged the game was turned on its head thanks to individual brilliance, saying: "If there is a comparable situation to this one, it is Javier Hernandez yesterday. In the last three games he has scored six times. He has come on and made a difference.
"Today, Dzeko made the difference with the ambition to show he deserves to be in the final XI.
"It was an individual moment of brilliance, which is recurrent for a player who continues to be on the bench but continues to come on to destroy the opposition."
