Nothing will make up for going out of the Champions League quarter-finals at the death in the manner Manchester City endured on Wednesday night against Tottenham, but this was a welcome bounce-back.
Spurs’s team selection very much hinted that their priority this week lay in Europe, with five changes made by Mauricio Pochettino for Saturday's lunchtime kick-off at the Etihad. There was a clue in the presence of four central defenders that Spurs intended to duck and cover.
The early breakthrough by Phil Foden – his first goal in the Premier League – rendered ineffective the Spurs strategy but it was a lot more tense thereafter than City might have wanted.
Supporters were edgy – given what happened on Wednesday – and they did not want their team to suffer a similar fate. Despite City largely bossing the game, there was still largely a sense of foreboding.
Liverpool go to Cardiff City on Sunday in search of three points – which would again place them top of the league – and City could not countenance Spurs ending their interest in their two highest-priority competitions in the space of three days.
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Raheem Sterling should have made it secure towards the end of the second half, but he was repelled by the leg of Paulo Gazzaniga. That didn’t help the nerves.
At the other end there were uncertainties too. From the opening exchanges – when a poor John Stones pass brought the first chance for Son Heung-min – and all throughout, Spurs were given opportunity after opportunity.
Had Son demonstrated the same kind of composure he had on Wednesday in scoring two goals, then City would have been pegged back here.
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City were perhaps fortunate to escape without the concession of a penalty too, when Kyle Walker’s hand intercepted a Dele Alli knockdown. There was no VAR this time, though, to intervene, as it had so dramatically in the two sides' Champions League clash in midweek.
Spurs were finding success at that stage with the diagonal ball out of defence. Players like Dele, Son and Lucas Moura excel on the break. There were some good blocks, decent saves and erroneous finishing to thank for the clean sheet in the end.
There were only blue skies overhead at the Etihad but Guardiola’s mood may well have been darkened by the loss – yet again of Kevin De Bruyne.
He jarred his left knee in attempting to shoot in the first half. He was disconsolate in leaving the field and could well have played the last game of a hugely frustrating season.
His form in the game on Wednesday hinted at a sharpness being added to the City attack right at a crucial juncture of the season. He gave three assists on the night and was busy here too. City might well console themselves in the fact they have already thrived and survived for much of the season without him.
This is not the type of game they’ll put in a museum as typical of the Guardiola style. It was gritty, hard-fought and tense. City had issues at both ends of the field and tanks must have been half-empty considering the exertions they put in midweek.
But they got over the line and the title shimmers in the distance. They will rest up and focus on Manchester United in the derby this coming Wednesday.
City go there safe in the knowledge that so long as they keep winning games, there is nothing Liverpool can do to stop their march.
This is – arguably – the most difficult game of the run-in ticked off. It wasn’t pretty but it was pretty effective.