Premier League Issue Statement Following Disputed Call in Spurs 2\u20132 Manchester City Draw<\/p>\n
Pep Guardiola cut a frustrated figure after Manchester City were held to a 2\u20132 draw by Tottenham Hotspur, insisting that Spurs\u2019 opening goal should have been ruled out due to a foul on Marc Guehi. In response to the controversy, the Premier League released an official explanation defending the decision.<\/p>\n
City appeared to be in complete control during the first half. Guardiola\u2019s side took the lead inside 11 minutes through Rayan Cherki, who was a constant danger throughout the contest. The Frenchman fired a right-footed shot beyond the reach of Guglielmo Vicario, before Antoine Semenyo made it 2\u20130 to give the visitors a commanding advantage.<\/p>\n
The second half, however, told a very different story. Tottenham fought their way back into the match, with Dominic Solanke netting twice in a 17-minute spell. The striker, who has endured an injury-hit season, rescued a point for the hosts, although neither side managed to find a late winner at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.<\/p>\n
Premier League Clarify Decision Over Spurs Goal<\/p>\n
While Spurs were pleased with their comeback, debate quickly emerged over their first goal. By that stage, the home side had begun to gain momentum, and their pressure paid off in the 55th minute when Solanke poked the ball home.<\/p>\n
The goal was initially recorded as an own goal by Guehi, who joined City from Crystal Palace in January, before being reassigned to Solanke. Replays, however, suggested the incident was more debatable than it first appeared. As Solanke attempted to shoot towards Gianluigi Donnarumma\u2019s goal, Guehi got a leg across to block, with Solanke\u2019s follow-through resulting in contact between the two players.<\/p>\n
Despite clear evidence of a collision, VAR chose not to intervene. The goal stood, first logged as an own goal and later officially credited to Solanke, who opened his Premier League account for the 2025\/26 season with his brace.<\/p>\n
Posting on X, the Premier League Match Centre explained that the on-field decision had been reviewed and upheld. The statement confirmed that VAR judged Solanke to have played the ball and ruled that the contact did not constitute a foul. The goal accreditation panel therefore awarded the strike to the Spurs forward.<\/p>\n
Guardiola Angered by Refereeing Decision<\/p>\n
Guardiola did little to hide his irritation after full-time. Speaking immediately after the match, he questioned the decision, suggesting Guehi had been fouled from behind before the goal was allowed to stand.<\/p>\n
He later told BBC Sport that such contact would likely result in a penalty if it occurred at the other end of the pitch, expressing his frustration with what he perceived to be a lack of consistency in Premier League officiating. Despite the setback, Guardiola stressed that there was still plenty of the season remaining.<\/p>\n
Now trailing Arsenal by six points, City will aim to bounce back quickly when they host Newcastle United in the League Cup on Wednesday, before a high-profile Premier League trip to Anfield.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Premier League Issue Statement Following Disputed Call in Spurs 2\u20132 Manchester City Draw Pep Guardiola cut a frustrated figure after Manchester City were held to a 2\u20132 draw by Tottenham Hotspur, insisting that Spurs\u2019 opening goal should have been ruled out due to a foul on Marc Guehi. In response to the controversy, the Premier …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":58310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/IMG_1852.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=58309"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58311,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58309\/revisions\/58311"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/58310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=58309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=58309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=58309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}