A quick glance at the result between Manchester City and Tottenham might suggest this game was closely fought, that Spurs went toe-to-toe with City and the teams traded plenty of punches, that there was not too much to separate the opposition.

That would be an illusion and even the Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino, conscious his side had got out of jail long before the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) denied City victory in stoppage time, made no attempt to pass this game off for something it was not.

Tottenham probably lay reasonable claim to being the country’s third best team and yet here they were at the Etihad Stadium, battered if ultimately not beaten by a side playing football that Pep Guardiola ranked as among the best he had witnessed in his three years at the helm of this supercharged outfit.

There will, understandably, be plenty of focus on the result but look beyond that for a moment and ask yourself this: if City are able to pepper this Spurs side, one of the apparent title contenders, with 30 shots and concede just three in return (or two, according to Guardiola, who did not consider Harry Kane’s botched attempt at another halfway lob to constitute a meaningful effort), what might they do to more modest opposition?