Kieran McKenna feels his Ipswich side have set the tone for their Sky Bet Championship season with their performance in their 2-1 win over Sunderland at the Stadium of Light.
Having won promotion from League One last term, Ipswich returned to the second tier in style as goals from Nathan Broadhead and George Hirst secured victory on Wearside.
Despite being reduced to 10 men when Trai Hume was sent off for two yellow cards, Sunderland rallied in the closing stages and halved their deficit courtesy of an 86th-minute goal from Dan Neil.
Neil also hit a post in 13 minutes of stoppage time, but Ipswich dug deep to see things through, with their resilience and spirit pleasing their head coach.
McKenna said: “The application of the players was excellent. We spoke before the game and said it would be very important in terms of setting the tone for what we want to do and how we’re going to be. I thought we set a very good tone for how hard we’re going to work.
“It was a really high level and a big challenge, against a very strong opponent, at home, with a full house and good momentum.
“It took every ounce of effort from the whole squad that we had to be competitive and make sure we were able to get the result.”
Ipswich regularly put opposition sides to the sword last season, but McKenna accepts they will have to be a little more circumspect at a higher level.
However, while he acknowledges there will be times when his players have to dig in with their backs to the wall, he also wants them to continue to express themselves, as they did against the Black Cats.
He said: “We know we’re going to have to defend more in this division. We want to press more aggressively than we managed to do in the first half.
“I think the level of the game and the opponent was certainly a step up and I think the players felt that in the first 20 minutes. We weren’t able to break their press as well as we wanted, so we needed to be a bit more aggressive.
“We know we’re going to have to defend at times, but we also know we’re going to have to show bits of what we did today in terms of being brave in our build-up and being patient in possession to try to get through the pitch.
“As the game wore on, I thought we started finding our men and breaking the lines much better.”
Tony Mowbray was left to reflect on what might have been, with his side only really stirring once they had been reduced to 10 men.
With Ross Stewart still injured, Hemir, a 19-year-old summer signing from Benfica’s reserve ranks, led the line, with Sunderland’s recruitment team hoping to bring in at least one more forward before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.
Mowbray said: “You have to put the ball in the net when the chances come and I don’t want to keep banging the drum, but we need more options and the club are trying really hard to do that.
“We are putting bids in. To find strikers worldwide is really difficult as huge clubs in the Premier League are finding.
“Hopefully there will be some more attacking options in the squad in the next week or two, then they’ll have to settle in.
“I think we’ll get stronger. In six or seven weeks, hopefully we have Ross Stewart down the middle, Bradley Dack might be playing off him. There’s enough there to say we’ll be fine.”
Tottenham 0-2 Manchester City: Haaland's double and Ortega's heroics put Guardiola's side on the brink
Erling Haaland’s double and Stefan Ortega’s superb save saw Manchester City beat Tottenham 2-0 to ensure Pep Guardiola’s team head into the final day of the season leading the Premier League.
Haaland, who had opened the scoring with a tap-in in the 51st minute, slammed in a stoppage-time penalty to send the travelling City supporters into delirium at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday.
That spot-kick followed a wonderful save from substitute goalkeeper Ortega at the other end, who denied Son Heung-min a would-be equaliser on a bizarre night where the home support never truly managed to get fully behind their side, given what was at stake for their rivals Arsenal.
But with Haaland’s double, City – now on 88 points, two clear of Arsenal – are on the cusp of an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title, while Spurs’ Champions League hopes are over.
Ederson was forced into action after just six minutes as Bentancur got on the end of Brennan Johnson’s cutback, with his strike from just outside the penalty area was tipped over by City’s goalkeeper.
The best chance of the half fell to Foden, who – in the 16th minute – latched onto a dismal clearance from Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg, but his close-range volley was superbly kept out by Vicario.
It took City less than two minutes to test Vicario once again after the break as he made an excellent diving save to palm away Kevin De Bruyne’s curling effort from the edge of the box.
But Vicario had no chance four minutes later – Haaland tapping into an empty net after latching onto De Bruyn’s drilled delivery.
Ederson had to be taken off after a nasty clash with Cristian Romero, and while City’s goalkeeper was frustrated, his stand-in Ortega turned in a fantastic cameo.
Having twice denied Dejan Kulusevski from close range, Ortega then stood up brilliantly when one-on-one with Son.
It is a save that might just win City the league – Haaland subsequently making sure of the points after Jeremy Doku was brought down by Pedro Porro, leaving the reigning champions, who face West Ham on Sunday, on the brink of glory again.
De Bruyne provides the spark but Ortega the unlikely hero
When City needed the breakthrough, it was no surprise to see De Bruyne provide it. The Belgian has now provided 10+ assists, the joint-most of any player in Premier League’s history, along with Cesc Fabregas.
De Bruyne has now assisted Haaland 12 times in the Premier League, the most from one player to another in the competition in the last two seasons.
Haaland, meanwhile, is the first City player to score a brace away to Spurs in the Premier League since Edin Dzeko in August 2011.
Yet for the efforts of the attackers, it was Ortega who came up huge with those massive stops, with that save from Son likely to go down in City folklore.
Spurs’ defensive woes continue
City only managed two shots in the opening 45 minutes – only against Aston Villa in December (two) have they had as few shots in the first half of a Premier League game this season.
Yet the hosts eventually came undone, meaning Ange Postecoglou’s team have conceded in each of their last 10 games in the Premier League, their longest run without a clean sheet in the competition since September-December 2019 (also 10).
After failing to secure the three points needed, Tottenham are now unable to catch Villa in fourth place, meaning Unai Emery’s team clinch the final Champions League spot.
Villa secure Champions League qualification after Spurs defeat to Man City
Aston Villa will play in Europe's top continental competition for the first time in 41 years next season after qualifying for the Champions League.
Tottenham's 2-0 defeat to Manchester City on Tuesday sealed Villa's fourth-place finish in the Premier League.
Unai Emery's side have not played in UEFA's premier club competition since the 1982-83 season, when they suffered quarter-final elimination to Juventus in the European Cup.
Villa were knocked out of the Europa Conference League in the semi-finals this term by Olympiacos, but will now have their eyes on Europe's top prize in the Champions League next campaign.
Rangers 5-2 Dundee: Cantwell and Wright keep Celtic's title party on hold
Rangers kept Celtic's Scottish Premiership celebrations on ice after Todd Cantwell and Scott Wright inspired a remarkable turnaround to hammer Dundee 5-2 at Ibrox Stadium on Tuesday.
Philippe Clement's side could not afford to drop points in this clash and seemed set to do so after Jordan McGhee bundled home before Antonio Portales headed past Jack Butland in the first half.
Ross McCausland managed to slice the deficit on the stroke of half-time for the hosts, sliding in to convert from Leon King's cross and teeing up a monumental comeback.
The Ibrox crowd were offered further inspiration to keep the title race alive when Cyriel Dessers glanced in from Cantwell's delivery after 52 minutes.
Former Norwich City midfielder Cantwell's fortuitous cross then dipped over Jon McCracken as Rangers hit the front for the first time, before Wright's pair of late finishes sealed the much-needed three points.
Yet this Rangers salvaging act could still matter for little, with Celtic requiring just a point away to Kilmarnock on Wednesday to seal a third successive top-flight trophy.
Data Debrief: Attacking barrage pays dividends
Clement may apportion this victory to Rangers' unrelenting desire to keep the title race ongoing, blasting 31 shots – and 13 of those on target – at the Dundee target for their 3.34 expected goals (xG) tally.
A plethora of attacking opportunities must be credited to star man Cantwell, who created a game-leading six chances – four more than any other Rangers team-mate.
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