Manchester City and Spurs end all square after breathless Premier League battle

Dejan Kulusevski scores 90th-minute equaliser to earn Tottenham 3-3 draw at the Etihad Stadium

Tottenham's Dejan Kulusevski, centre, celebrates with teammates after making it 3-3 against Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. AFP

Dejan Kulusevski scored a 90th-minute equaliser as Tottenham snatched a thrilling 3-3 draw at champions Manchester City.

Substitute Jack Grealish looked to have secured City's first Premier League win in three games when he struck nine minutes from time.

Pep Guardiola's side had led 2-1 at the break thanks to a Phil Foden goal after Son Heung-min had scored at both ends, but Giovani Lo Celso's superb strike made it 2-2.

With Spurs committing numerous errors, City had the chances to win convincingly but paid the price for their wastefulness.

It was their third successive draw and there was further frustration as Rodri was booked, ruling him out of the midweek trip to Aston Villa. Grealish will also be suspended against his former club.

“That's football sometimes,” said Guardiola about his team's failure to kill-off the game. “In any sport it is about statistics, and when a team has better statistics, 10 times out of 10 they win. In football this is not the case.

“Last week the same happened to Spurs. They were the better team against Aston Villa but they lost. So football can be like this sometimes.

“To score four at Stamford Bridge and draw, to be better against Liverpool and draw, and today we were also not able to win. We need to forget this and move on to the next one and continue.”

For Spurs, after three successive defeats and a multitude of injuries, it was a highly creditable point.

City made a positive start and threatened early on when the dangerous Jeremy Doku forced a save from goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario.

Yet from the resulting corner the hosts were punished as Vicario palmed the ball away and it was launched long out of defence towards Son.

The Korean was quickly into his stride and could not be caught as he raced into the area and rifled a shot past Ederson to give the visitors a sixth-minute lead.

It seemed the perfect start for Spurs but the celebrations quickly turned sour for the goalscorer.

Son was wrong-footed as Julian Alvarez's free-kick into the area was glanced by Erling Haaland and could not prevent the ball ricocheting off his knee into his own net.

Spurs should have conceded again moments later but were spared by an extraordinary and uncharacteristic miss by Haaland.

The prolific Norwegian looked certain to score after Bernardo Silva seized on a loose pass and squared across the area but he somehow screwed his effort wide.

City also had some sloppy moments at the back.

Ruben Dias got back to clear after Brennan Johnson got behind the defence following another long ball and Rodri tidied up after Silva gave the ball away in a dangerous position.

Spurs survived again after Doku cut inside and smashed a shot against the crossbar but City broke through after 31 minutes.

Tottenham contributed to their own downfall after giving away position and City passed their way through, with Foden finishing off following a neat turn and layoff by Alvarez.

Alvarez struck the base of a post with another effort and Haaland was again wasteful, this time shooting over, when Spurs once more lost possession.

Tottenham continued to live dangerously and when their attempts to play out from the back faltered again early in the second half, it took a fine save from Vicario to deny Silva.

City were to rue their profligacy as Lo Celso pulled his side level 21 minutes from time.

An Alvarez pass was intercepted on halfway and Spurs pushed forward with Son finding Lo Celso on the edge of the area. The Argentinian cut inside on to his left foot and sent a low curling shot beyond Ederson's fingertips and in off the far post.

City were jolted into action and Rodri sent a shot whistling wide before Grealish turned in from a Haaland cutback.

It seemed victory was secured but Spurs had other ideas with Kulusevski rising to power in, with what seemed to be his shoulder, from a Johnson cross.

The game ended in controversy, and with Haaland fuming, after play was initially allowed to go on after the forward was fouled as he played Grealish in on goal before it was then called back.

“Really pleased for the players that they did get a reward. We weren't at our usual standard first half – Man City could have blown us away during that period,” said Purs manager Ange Postecolglou. “We hung in there and second half was a lot better.”