The most remarkable part of Manchester City’s latest victory, a club-record 11th in a row, was that it was the first time since April 1995, when Brian Horton was in the dugout and Paul Walsh supplied the decisive goal in a 3-2 win at Blackburn Rovers, they had won a Premier League match after trailing at half-time. They will be glad, 11 managers on, to get rid of that little piece of club trivia. It is another measure, perhaps, of how the modern City now have stoutness and resilience to go with their many other gifts.
They had to work tremendously hard to save themselves and Huddersfield certainly deserved the ovation they received at the end, even if Rajiv van La Parra’s red card soured the mood after the final whistle. David Wagner’s men had given everything and when Nicolas Otamendi’s own-goal put them in front just before half-time their supporters could have been forgiven for daring to dream of a remarkable double, having already beaten Manchester United here last month.
Ultimately, though, City have now accumulated 37 points from their opening 13 fixtures, a record of excellence that has never been seen before in the Premier League era. Pep Guardiola’s side are unbeaten in 26 matches, a run stretching back seven months, and Raheem Sterling’s 84th-minute winner maintained their immaculate record on the road this season – they have won every single away fixture. When United went a goal down here they conceded a second five minutes later and lost 2-1, leaving José Mourinho to complain that the players, not the manager, should appear in front of the media to explain it. In stark contrast, Guardiola described City’s response as one of the more satisfying results of his time in charge. His team have freewheeled past many of their opponents this season but their latest victory was a demonstration of other qualities – guts, to put it one way.
Sterling was also involved when City were awarded the penalty, scored by Sergio Agüero, that changed the complexion of the match early in the second half, and the game was so one-sided at 1-1 that Guardiola ended up replacing a centre-half, Vincent Kompany, with another striker, Gabriel Jesus, to operate with something resembling a 3-2-5 system. It was an onslaught facing a packed defence with the added complication that the Huddersfield striker, Laurent Depoitre, had been deployed to a man-marking job on Fernandinho. Huddersfield’s backs-to-the-wall operation very nearly paid off but, finally, the pressure told, resulting in a lucky ricochet off Sterling for the decisive moment.
It was difficult not to sympathise with the home side and, on this evidence, Huddersfield can certainly think confidently about their first season of top-division football since 1972 not being a brief interlude. Their goal had a sizeable amount of good fortune attached to it, with Otamendi inadvertently turning the ball past Ederson inside the six-yard area. Yet the ball would never have reached that position had it not been for Christopher Schindler’s determination to elude two markers and apply the first touch to Tom Ince’s corner.
Schindler had a fine game and if there was one moment to sum up the home team’s efforts it was his perfectly executed tackle, at 0-0, to deny Agüero the near-certainty of a goal and, brilliantly, the little scene that followed it as the Huddersfield centre-half punched the air in celebration. Huddersfield are not the first side to defend in numbers and try to hit Guardiola’s team on the break. They might be the first, however, whose tactic was to defend so deeply, often with their entire team no more than 30 yards from goal. The onus was on City’s creative players to find a way through the congestion and that, plainly, was not a straightforward assignment even with David Silva on form, plus Kevin De Bruyne and Leroy Sané adding their own refined touches.
Guardiola’s hands were pressed deep into his trouser pockets when the half-time whistle went but it was still asking a lot of Huddersfield to expect them to keep out a side that had scored 40 goals in their previous 12 league fixtures and the lead was wiped out within a couple of minutes of the restart. Sterling might actually have won a penalty even earlier in the second half, going down under a challenge from the goalkeeper Jonas Lossl, and in the next attack it was a tangle with Scott Malone that ended with him on the floor.
The home supporters were outraged but, as Wagner accepted afterwards, the referee, Craig Pawson, probably made the right decision. Malone had his arms around his opponent as Sterling tried to break free and when Agüero took advantage with a precise finish from 12 yards there was still over three quarters of an hour to play with stoppage-time factored in.
All the same, the winning goal was a cruel blow for Huddersfield, culminating in a shot from Jesus that came back off Lossl, struck Sterling on the knee and looped in.
Sterling had not planned the decisive touch but he had started the attack and, after a subdued opening half, he was a constant menace to his opponents in the second period. Huddersfield’s resistance was broken and it was just a pity that a spiky second half ended with Van La Parra’s dismissal, the Dutchman clashing with Sané close to the corner flag and pushing him in the face.
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