Tottenham had threatened to win at a canter. With a two-goal lead in the 25th minute, there was almost disbelief among the home crowd and not just because Timo Werner had scored the first goal.

Everyone knew that wasn’t the way the story was going to go and so we had the Manchester City backlash, with Matheus Nunes pulling one back before half-time and then a concerted effort from Spurs to get the deal done. They created chances, quite a few of them, some of them crystal clear, but still they couldn’t take them.

When the substitute, Richarlison, failed to finish from close range after 83 minutes, it clearly felt that City would have the chance to save their skin, to salvage a performance that did not reach the level that Pep Guardiola demands .

They got it, the ball fell to 19-year-old Nico O’Reilly, after Guglielmo Vicario fluttered at a corner and his shot found the goal but was cleared off the line by the substitute, Yves Bissouma.

Spurs would get the job done, this was a result to boost their season and one they deserved no matter how much they put their fans through the wringer. City will look for silverware elsewhere.

It was a night when team statistics were always under scrutiny – perhaps disproportionately – especially after Guardiola’s comments following City’s win over Watford in the previous round. He said he would play against the second team in this tie; City would ‘certainly not waste energy’. And yet they were strong; six changes, three of which were John Stones, Nathan Aké and Ilkay Gündogan. That said enough.

Postecoglou was never going to start his best team, no matter how much a constituency of the Spurs fanbase wanted him to; the people who thought this match was more important than Sunday’s Premier League match against Aston Villa. Postecoglou doesn’t see it that way. He left out Pedro Porro and Destiny Udogie early on, as well as Yves Bissouma and James Maddison. Nevertheless, it can hardly be described as a weakened setup.

Udogie took the lead within 13 minutes ahead of Micky Van de Ven, who started as left back. Van de Ven injured his hamstring while stretching to win a slide tackle on Savinho and left in visible distress. Still, Spurs were a goal up at that point and it was a lead that their committed and fast start deserved.

Brennan Johnson provided the spark with a lovely backheel that sent Dejan Kulusevski down the right, exposing City and the low cross to Werner at the far post always watching. Could he execute it? Absolute. Werner got there before Rico Lewis and opened his body for the side-footed finish.

Guardiola had started with Phil Foden in the No.9 role, James McAtee working ahead of him and it was strange to see City so disjointed in the early stages and struggling to follow their passes. Gündogan missed one from Stones on the edge of the City box and was lucky that Werner shot straight at Stefan Ortega.

It was a bloody nose for Spurs midway through the first half as Sarr made it 2-0. Kulusevski teamed up a short corner with Werner and Sarr started his long-range curler well outside the near post. To Ortega’s surprise, the midfielder was able to put the ball back in at the last moment.

At that point, Spurs stopped doing what they had done before, slumping and making mistakes. The city began to dig out their footholds. They created chances, with Nunes almost finding Foden after outpacing Archie Gray; Foden then volleyed just high after another Nunes ball.

There were groans from the home crowd as four minutes of stoppage time was declared. Foden had just taken a free kick from goal after a mistake by Udogie. It was like they knew what was coming. That happened when Savinho beat Udogie to the cross and Nunes was all alone at the far post to finish. Game on.

Postecoglou shook his head as Nunes celebrated. He knew what was coming. He was also aware that his team needed to bring more energy at the start of the second period, and they did just that. Spurs got in behind City’s high final line a handful of times before the hour mark but still couldn’t finish.

The South Stand had sung during the first half: “Timo Werner scores when he wants.” They know it’s not true. Werner wasted a one-on-one with Ortega and took another chance high. Johnson had Ortega extended and the goalkeeper would also throw a hand out to thwart Kulusevksi as he ran inside to the right.

Spurs suffered another injury blow when Cristian Romero was forced off while City lost Savinho, who was taken off on a stretcher after an awkward fall. Enter 19-year-old Jacob Wright.

Spurs would lose Werner to a groin injury and they had to deal with the knowledge that they should have been out of sight; One flash from City could ruin everything. Wright almost delivered. He confidently tackled the edge of the penalty area and bent his shot inches past the post.