The main talking points from Tottenham Hotspur's win over Manchester City

On Wednesday night, Spurs pulled off a surprise result, beating Manchester City 2-1 in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup. Whist it was not City’s strongest possible XI, there were still plenty of regulars like Ruben Dias, John Stones, Savio, Phil Foden, Ilkay Gundogan, and so on out there on the pitch – as well as some of the most talented youngsters in the country.

So, what were the main talking points from the game – what conclusions can be drawn?

Spurs most certainly needed to buy some left-back cover. Something we all already knew. Having Micky van de Ven playing left-back, up against the electric Savio always felt like it could come as a risk, with the defender having to cover large spaces – which is what injured his hamstring against Chelsea last year.

In the end, Spurs have an injured van de Ven, and Udogie didn’t get much rest anyway. A real double whammy on a positive night in general.

Archie Gray showed some professionalism beyond his years. Despite a couple of positive moments, where he helped Spurs spring counter attacks – including the opener – Gray would be the first to admit he had a pretty torrid time in the first half. He didn’t let his head drop, and was a lot better in the second half. Credit to Ange for persisting with him, given he had Pedro Porro on the bench at his disposal.

The half-time change of bringing Yves Bissouma on for goalscorer Pape Matar Sarr worked a treat. It was not due to injury, nor because Sarr wasn’t playing well, according to Ange – but rather due to the booking he had picked up.

Even if the sub was made for another reason, it tactically worked really well. Bissouma moved to the holding position, with Bentancur on the right side and Kulusevski on the left, or Bentancur and Sarr as a double pivot, with Kulusevski as the number ten.

Either way, Bentancur was certainly more right sided than central in the second half, and really helped Gray out defensively, helping the 18-year old to have a much better second half. It culminated with Bissouma making a goal line clearance right at the end, after Guglielmo Vicario had failed to claim the ball.

One of the less positive takeaways is that Dominic Solanke is beginning to look a bit spent. The forward does so much running, so much pressing, so much work for the team, and it seems to be slightly catching up with him. He has already played over 900 minutes for club and country this season, despite missing a few weeks of the season.

He actually didn’t play too badly last night, and played a sublime ball over the top for Timo Werner, but in the last 20 minutes looked to be running in quick sand. With the return of Richarlison, ideally Solanke’s minutes can be managed when it comes to the Europa League in particular.

Speaking of the devil – despite his miss, Richarlison’s cameo was actually pretty useful last night. He held onto the ball well and helped Spurs get up the pitch, which really helped burn seconds off the clock when trying to see the game out. As mentioned above, he is going to be needed with the hectic schedule, so to see a sharp cameo was pretty handy.

There is not too much to say about Werner and his goal, but it would feel harsh not to mention it at all. The weirdest thing is that he seems like a confidence player, but last night was the opposite. He took his goal incredibly well, having not scored March the 10th, yet missed a presentable opportunity in the second half, 46 minutes after his last goal.

One goal is not enough to change his importance to the side, but in any case you have to feel really happy for the guy. No doubt a nice guy who works really hard, it is nice to see him get a goal.

Just like in the previous games he has missed, Heung Min-Son would have thrived last night. It is so, so important that he is back for the Aston Villa game, and is able to get in behind their high line. Fortunately, it seems like he will be.

Finally, Dejan Kulusevski is really, really, really, good at football.