A victory to unite north London. Harry Kane's record 267th goal for Tottenham sank Manchester City and pushed Arsenal a step closer to the Premier League title.
But if the Arsenal aspect is a bitter pill for Spurs to swallow, then surely everything else about this day would have pepped up the recuperating Antonio Conte, absent after midweek gallbladder surgery.
As for Pep Guardiola, another big-match masterplan has to be called into question.
If every match at this stage of the season is a final, as managers are wont to suggest, then how is it justifiable to make Kevin De Bruyne, the Premier League's most creative player, a substitute?
The Belgian's benching was the pre-match bombshell from the City camp, and by the time he came on, just before the hour mark, City were not only trailing but they were ragged.
Erling Haaland was seeing nothing of the ball – he did not have a shot all game long, or even a touch in the Spurs penalty area – and City's possessional dominance was getting them nowhere.
Arsenal, beaten by Everton on Saturday, would have been fearing their lead at the summit being trimmed to two points, but the longer this game went on, the more Mikel Arteta would have been perked up.
So too Conte, who was said by captain Hugo Lloris to be at home in Turin. It was decided on Saturday that Conte should skip this game, and assistant Cristian Stellini saw Tottenham show battling qualities that have not always shone through this season.
So what of the De Bruyne gamble? Was it up there with Guardiola's 2021 Champions League final punt on starting without a natural holding midfielder, giddily capitalised on by Chelsea?
De Bruyne plays the sort of high-tariff passes and crosses that bring chances and goals, but they also often result in a turnover of possession. Guardiola would have looked at the likes of Son Heung-min and Dejan Kulusevski, and decided City did not need that pair sprinting away on the counter-attack.
Before this game, De Bruyne had lost possession on over 200 more occasions this season than the four players Guardiola selected in Sunday's midfield. De Bruyne had lost possession 469 times, compared with Rodri's 258, Bernardo Silva's 248, Riyad Mahrez's 237 and Jack Grealish's 219.
On average per 90 minutes, De Bruyne had lost possession 19.91 times, and among Sunday's quartet the worst offender during the season had been Mahrez (13.36 per 90).
Nobody in City's ranks has come close to De Bruyne's 16 assists, however, with five from Rodri and Bernardo Silva the next most from a City midfielder.
So this was unmistakably a gamble, Guardiola trusting his midfield to be robust and fend off the risk of Tottenham bursts, but also sufficiently creative to unlock the home defence.
And when you pick a team to keep the ball, it helps if they avoid doing silly things on the edge of their own penalty area.
Rodri was back-tracking and almost off-balance in the 15th minute when he looked to play out through the centre of the pitch, spotting team-mate Rico Lewis but not the lurking Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Spurs' Danish midfielder stole in to snatch the pass intended for Lewis and burst a telling five yards forward before flicking the ball into Kane's path.
What followed was not the cleanest strike of Kane's career, but the bobbling shot beat Ederson and found the left corner. The late Jimmy Greaves, Spurs' record scorer for so long, didn't mind how they found the net, and nor does Kane. Elation spread across his face. It was just his second touch of the game.
City had 78.7 per cent of possession over those opening 15 minutes, but Spurs had the lead and Kane had his 200th goal in the Premier League.
Later, Kane would tell Sky it was "a moment I'll never forget", but he put it to the back of his mind for the rest of the game.
Riyad Mahrez rattled the Spurs crossbar just before half-time, and that was as close as City came.
Ben Davies flashed a header a foot over the City bar from a corner in the 57th minute, just as De Bruyne was stripping for action at pitchside.
Off went Mahrez. De Bruyne fired wide from a half-chance, and then Spurs went close to a second goal in the 66th minute, Son skipping away on the counter and Ivan Perisic's skidding cross from the left just too heavy for Kane to reach.
Haaland was bristling at the lack of service, this season's Premier League 25-goal leading scorer shaking his head in frustration, imploring team-mates to do better.
City were becoming desperate. Julian Alvarez tried his luck from 20 yards and flashed the ball just wide of the top-left corner, then Kane bundled his way through Kyle Walker at the other end and only had Ederson to beat, with the goalkeeper this time winning that duel.
Tottenham had won five of their previous seven Premier League games when leading at half-time this season, but the exception came only a fortnight ago and it came at City, when a 2-0 interval lead swung around to a 4-2 defeat.
This time Spurs were sturdy, and they are back to just one point behind fourth-placed Newcastle United now, albeit having played one more game than the Magpies.
In the end it hardly mattered that World Cup winner Cristian Romero was sent off in the 87th minute.
The Argentinian's clumsy challenge gave away a free-kick 25 yards from goal in a central spot: De Bruyne territory. Up stepped the Belgian, and his shot smacked into Kane in the wall, ricocheting into Hojbjerg, who went down as though hit by a sniper.
Hojbjerg was excellent, winning possession a team-high eight times across the piece, and Tottenham have now beaten City four times in a row at home in the Premier League, without conceding in any of those games.
Only twice before had City lost four in a row to a specific opponent without scoring – against Chelsea between 2006 and 2009, and Sunderland between 2010 and 2013 – so there's another touch of history.
This is a bogey ground for City and Guardiola, make no mistake. They have lost on all five of their visits without scoring, when you throw in the Champions League quarter-final loss four years ago.
Kane, the man they wanted 18 months ago, a player praised to the hilt by Guardiola before this game, a man with history in his sights, was the last man they needed to run into.
The last thing City should have done was sit down their main man for the first hour.
Daniel Levy would consider Tottenham sale if it was in best interests of club
Daniel Levy has revealed for the first time he would be “open” to selling his stake in Tottenham if it was right for the club.
Levy has been Spurs chairman since 2001 and runs affairs for majority shareholder ENIC, which owns 86.58 per cent of the club while the other 13.42 per cent of shares are held by around 30,000 individuals.
The first half of 2023 proved tumultuous for Tottenham and as a result Levy faced several calls from supporters to leave his position, but the mood in N17 has been transformed following the June appointment of head coach Ange Postecoglou.
Positivity is growing on the pitch but unrest off it remains bubbling under the surface with fans protesting before last month’s win over Manchester United due to the club’s decision to increase match day ticket prices for this season.
Meanwhile, Joe Lewis – Tottenham owner until October when he ceased to be “a person with significant control” and the club shares were handed over to his family trust – was indicted on charges of insider trading in America in July.
Takeover interest in Tottenham has grown since the club opened its 62,850-seater stadium in 2019 and earlier this year Levy met with Qatar Sports Investments chairman Nasser Al-Khelaifi to reportedly discuss QSI purchasing a minority stake, although this was denied by Spurs.
During an interview with Bloomberg on Wednesday, Levy confirmed the club’s shareholders would be open to selling the club if a “serious proposition” was put forward.
“I’ve got no real interest to leave Tottenham, but I have a duty to consider anything that anyone may want to propose,” Levy said.
“It’s not about me, it’s about what’s right for the club. We have 30,000 shareholders who own approximately 13.5 per cent. We run this club as if it is a public company.
“If anyone wants to make serious propositions to the board of Tottenham, we will consider it along with our advisors. And if we felt it was in the interests of the club, we would be open to anything.”
Millie Bright says England players and the FA have settled dispute over bonuses
Millie Bright says an agreement has been reached between England players and the Football Association with regard to the dispute that has been ongoing over bonuses and commercial structures.
Just prior to the summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, the Lionesses in a statement tweeted by Bright expressed their disappointment at the matter having not been resolved before the tournament, and said they had decided to pause talks with the intention of revisiting them after.
Asked for an update on the situation on Thursday, Bright – who captained the European champions at the World Cup, where they finished as runners-up – told a press conference: “We’ve had a really good conversation with the FA.
“I think that conversation was needed, and the conversations will be ongoing moving forward between the leadership team and the FA, (with the) support of the PFA. We’re really positive that moving forward things will be different.
“We have come to an agreement, but I think it’s bigger than just the bonus. For us it’s about being world leaders on and off the pitch, and as we know the women’s game is evolving very quickly and conversations like this need to happen in order to make sure in all areas we’re at the top of our game.
“The conversation was extremely positive and as players we feel really confident moving forward about the structure we now have in place.”
Amid the dispute, England’s players were understood to have been left disappointed by the fact the FA was not following the lead of the Australian and American federations – where collective bargaining agreements are in place – in paying bonuses on top of the prize money ring-fenced for players in its payments to national associations by FIFA.
When asked what other areas of discussion there had been aside from bonuses, Bright said: “A variety of things. I think it’s the whole package that comes with the women’s game. It is more than just finances, it’s everything to do with the next generation.
“We are extremely lucky and privileged that we have amazing facilities, we already set the tone in many areas.
“I think those conversations are also just about checking in, and it’s about building those relationships so that if a problem does crop up we are in a position where we can have an open, honest conversation and be more solution-based.
“That’s why we felt really positive from that conversation as players, because we want to be more solution-based moving forward.
“I just feel lucky we’re in a position to come together and, one, come to an agreement, but actually, moving forward we are building a new structure where we can have more of that open dialogue to make sure everything stays where it needs to be.”
Lucy Staniforth feels she deserves England recall after World Cup disappointment
Lucy Staniforth says her recall to the England squad after being a standby player ahead of the World Cup is something she feels she earned.
The 30-year-old, who had been set to go on holiday with her mother to Ibiza, changed that plan when she was called up by Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman in late June to replace Jess Park on a standby list also featuring Maya Le Tissier.
Staniforth was subsequently involved in preparations at home and then in Australia before parting ways with the squad as the tournament – in which Wiegman’s European champions went on to finish runners-up – got under way.
The Aston Villa midfielder, capped 17 times, most recently in October 2021, is back in the fold at the first opportunity since the World Cup, for the upcoming Nations League matches against Scotland and Netherlands.
She said: “I think from January, moving to Villa (after leaving Manchester United), it sort of put me back in the frame of England.
“It was always on my radar, something I wanted to get back into, and it felt like there was sort of unfinished business with the team.
“I really want to contribute and not just be here for the ride. So it was really pleasing to hear from Sarina and know I was called up to this camp.
“I felt like I’d earned it, and it’s a really satisfying feeling to know you’ve put in that hard work and obviously made an impact in the pre camps before the World Cup. And it just feels like I’m in the right place, this is where I should be.”
Staniforth says the standby stint left her with “fire in my belly”.
“I wouldn’t call it bittersweet,” she said. “It was such a wonderful camp. It was a real privilege to be part of that whole experience. I think me and Maya certainly enjoyed ourselves and we brought lots of good stuff to the camp too.
“But when we had to say goodbye, it was a bit like ‘the dream’s over now’. You always kind of had in the back of your head ‘maybe, maybe there’s a chance’.
“It’s probably my favourite camp I’ve ever been on, strange as that is because obviously it was stopped shorter than I would have liked.
“I came away and had such good feelings and no regrets. It left me in a really good mental place to go ‘OK, there’s still so much I want to achieve, there’s so much I want to do with England, and with Aston Villa.’ I just had so much hunger and fire in my belly.”
Asked if the experience had given her an extra push in pre-season, Staniforth said: “Oh yeah – I’ve been trying so hard!
“I have felt every rep, every run we’ve done. It’s been a really hard pre-season, probably the hardest I’ve done. I’ve really enjoyed the pain and the struggle!
“I kind of just had a little word with myself in the gym and was like ‘right – you’ve got time now, let’s go for it, let’s really push.’
“I just thought to myself ‘come on, let’s get down and work really hard’, and I’m really glad I’ve done that because now I’m here, I feel really good, really fit and I’m really looking forward to the England games.”
England face Scotland at the Stadium of Light on Friday, and ex-Sunderland player Staniforth feels it would be “pretty cool” to be involved again at a ground where she played in an FA Cup semi-final win over Chelsea in 2009.
She added: “I have really fond memories of living and playing in the north east. I’m so excited to get back up there and whatever happens on Friday is just a bonus.”
Staniforth was “really proud” of her team-mates for their efforts at the World Cup – and regarding her mother, she said: “She went on holiday on her own and had an amazing time, so I was really happy for her. It’s the first holiday, first flight, everything, that she’d done on her own, so I was like ‘well done Mum!'”
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