The reason Phil Foden was laughing after Tottenham scored against Man City

It was a day to forget for Manchester City as Thomas Frank’s Tottenham produced a statement performance to come away from the Etihad with a 2-0 win.

Spurs returned to the stadium where they romped to a 4-0 victory last season and produced a similarly impressive display – albeit under a new manager – to maintain their 100 per cent record in the Premier League after two games.

A somewhat unfortunate slip from John Stones helped the visitors make their breakthrough in the 35th minute, with Richarlison racing through to cross for Brennan Johnson, who made made no mistake from close range.

And Frank’s men were gifted their second in the dying moments of the first half as James Trafford’s high-risk pass backfired spectacularly, allowing Joao Palhinha to open his account for the north Londoners.

Pep Guardiola rang the changes after the break, with Jeremy Doku, Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden all introduced, but Tottenham held firm to pick up a second clean sheet in as many games.

While Foden was unable to make a meaningful difference in the contest, a video showing the England attacking midfielder laughing on the City substitutes bench quickly went viral on social media.

The bizarre footage was captured shortly after Palhinha had doubled Spurs’ advantage on the stroke of half-time, leaving many City supporters seething and others bemused.

Some fans speculated that Foden may have been nervously chuckling while watching back Trafford’s blunder for Spurs’ second goal, while others suggested his reaction may have been born out of frustration at not starting the match.

However, it soon became clear that it was Tottenham supporters singing, ‘Champions of Europe, you’ll never sing that!’, following their Europa League triumph, that had sent Foden into a fit of the giggles.

Given Guardiola’s City conquered Europe just two years ago, one would assume those Spurs fans in the away end would have had their tongues firmly in their cheeks.

It was perhaps the miserable look on Ederson’s face, who was sat directly behind Foden, that really summed up City’s afternoon.

Guardiola’s side will look to get back to the drawing board and regroup ahead of their trip to Brighton next weekend.

Asked where it all went wrong for City, Guardiola told BBC Sport: ‘Well, the result.

‘I think the performance was better in general in many moments, but I think we missed the simple things, individually and collectively.

‘Let’s not blame individuals, but the simple things, the passes and what you have to do, we missed a lot.

‘But yeah, we gave everything and the vibe we have and the rhythm and the training and the games is good so we have to continue with that.’

Guardiola opted not to dwell on Trafford’s mistake that led to Palhinha’s goal and instead criticised his team as a whole for ‘losing the simple things’ across the 90 minutes.

Asked about Spurs’ second, Guardiola replied: ‘Against high-pressing we have to attack differently in our build-up and after when we dropped we were quite good.

‘I know the physicality they have and we were close in the transitions, but we lost the simple things, a lot of balls we lost.’

‘We have done many good things but, of course, we have to shape in that period and we have to finish the transfer market and see how many players we have.

‘After that, we will see.’

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