Tottenham turn their stadium into a fortress when it comes to Manchester City

Tottenham have rarely looked like turning their palatial new stadium into anything like a fortress.

No-one trembles in terror when they step from the High Road into a glitzy atrium, complete with its glass trophy cabinet sparkling with well-polished replicas of prizes won somewhere deep in the last century.

Newcastle, Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal have all left with maximum points this season. Brighton, Southampton and Wolves have won here within the last 12 months.

It is far from impenetrable and then, when Manchester City roll up, everything changes. This is five games and five defeats for Pep Guardiola's team since Spurs returned to the N17 postcode from their Wembley rental.

They have not so much as a goal to savour. This place brings the worst out of Manchester City. Or City bring the best out of Tottenham.

Antoino Conte was 600 miles away in Turin. No doubt tuned into the live feed and hopefully keeping his emotions under control and surely savouring what he saw, a wonderful exhibition of collective super-deep defending and counter-attacking threat.

It was trademark Conte and no-one was longing for the Glory Glory style of yesteryear. Not when they're toppling the champions again, and keeping Erling Haaland at bay.

Tottenham scored early and had to defend. They dug in deep and they did it well. They limited City to few clear chances and rode their luck and a collective roar of relieved celebration was let go final whistle.

Usually it is Son Heung-min troubling City with his electric pace on the turnover. Son was on target in the previous four Spurs victories here.

This time it was Harry Kane punishing them for a careless over indulgence by Rodri, deep in his own territory, trying to thread a pass into left-back Rico Lewis in his pseudo central midfield role.

Pierre Emile Hojbjerg read the pass and Kane did the rest. In doing so, he became Tottenham's all time record scorer and reached the milestone of his 200th goal in the Premier League. Quite rightly, the home fans rose to acclaim their hero.

It mattered not one iota that they had spent the previous 14 minutes in the deep, packing men around their own penalty area to stifle Pep Guardiola's team.

There is little pretence with Conte. This is the way he likes this team to play, although when some opponents visit, there is an onus on Spurs to make the running, and be the creative force.

When City arrive, he is safe in the knowledge they will throw men forward. He knows they will try to dominate the ball. He knows they will back their ability and risk the threat of being outnumbered on the break.

Equally, he knows if they hit their stride it might not make any difference. As in the second half at the Etihad Stadium, last month, when Tottenham surrendered a two-goal lead and conceded four.

City never found this rhythm. They enjoyed plenty of the ball but hardly ever opened up Spurs up or troubled Hugo Lloris.

There were flashes of brilliance of course, as Riyad Mahrez rattled the woodwork and Eric Dier's knee diverted a crisp strike by Julian Alvarez over.

There was late pressure. There was the hypnotic rotation of City players, with Rico Lewis from left back into this midfield amid flexing formations.

But they were short of their fluent best. Haaland was starved of space and opportunity, with only 27 touches and without a shot for the first time in a Premier League game.

The 25-goal runaway leader for this season's Golden Boot was as ineffectual as he has been since his move to England.

Credit to Spurs and to Conte but surely Haaland was not helped by Guardiola's decision to start with Kevin de Bruyne, his creator in chief, on the bench.

Over in Turin, Conte must have been thrilled when the team news filtered through. When Kane struck, Guardiola threw himself down into his seat on the bench, dropped his head into his hands and gave it a vigorous rub.

Had he outthought himself once again? Is he too clever by half? Or does his team have a mental block in these swanky surroundings.