Palhinha your Player of the Match after dominant display at Manchester City
Sun 24 August 2025, 12:00|
Tottenham Hotspur
Joao Palhinha has been named your HSBC Player of the Match after his dominant display in our 2-0 win over Manchester City on Saturday afternoon.
In a poll run exclusively on the Spurs Official App, Palhinha has taken the majority of your votes to take the crown on what was his full Premier League debut for the Club.
Making his league debut for us off the bench against Burnley in the season opener, this time the Portuguese international lined up from the start alongside Pape Matar Sarr and Rodrigo Bentancur and the trio delivered a midfield masterclass at the Etihad.
A summer arrival on loan from FC Bayern, our number six was a commanding presence in the middle of the park as he brought a calmness in possession and a steel and bite to his defensive contributions by winning eight duels to stifle City's build-up throughout.
Up against Pep Guardiola's City side who enjoy possession and like to play out from the back, our aggressive, high press was a huge factor in the victory and Joao set the tone from the off - pressing Tijjani Reijnders on the edge of their box in the 11th minute - and was later rewarded with a first goal in our colours following our high pressure.
Already a goal up thanks to Brennan Johnson's opener 10 minutes before the break, a City goal-kick on the stroke of half-time saw James Trafford play a short pass into Nico González, who was dispossessed by the ever-impressive Sarr, and the Portuguese midfielder was on hand to rifle in the loose ball to score his first Premier League goal since 30 March 2024 for former side Fulham.
Putting in a fully-committed display - summed up by an excellent sliding block to deny Nathan Ake late on in the first half - Joao rightfully took the acclaim from the Spurs fans packed into the away end as he was replaced by Kevin Danso in the 90th minute.
Player of the Match | 2025/26
Spurs 3-0 Burnley - Richarlison
Manchester City 0-2 Spurs - Joao Palhinha
Player of the Match awards | 2025/26
1 - Richarlison, Joao Palhinha
