Manchester City’s inexorable march towards the Premier League title got back on track as the Sky Blues managed to beat an in-form Tottenham Hotspur side 3-1 in a pulsating tie at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night.

The Sky Blues, still reeling from their midweek UEFA Champions League exit, started the tie in ominous fashion, racing into a 2-0 lead before Spurs managed to get one back to spark fears of a comeback.

While Mauricio Pochettino’s men gave a good account of themselves, they were unable to truly test the Sky Blues in the second-half and Raheem Sterling would end a miserable fortnight when he scored his side’s third goal to make sure of the the three points late in the second-half.

Here are the five main talking points from an eventful encounter in the British capital:

Manchester City’s response befitting of champions

How good were City in the opening half-hour? Or was it the first 40 minutes?

It’s a pity for them that the game has to last the complete 90 for yet again they started so strongly, that one was fearing for Spurs yet again, not unlike what we had witnessed in the first-half of the Manchester Derby last week.

If Pep Guardiola was looking for his players to make a response after losing three games on the bounce, he wasn’t disappointed for a terrific opening period saw them go two goals to the good.

The first one was a very un-City like goal, with Vincent Kompany’s long-ball relasing Gabriel Jesus and the Brazilian tucked away his chance with aplomb to give the Citizens the lead.

And while the second had an element of luck to it, take nothing away from City’s exquisite play to set it up.

Not quite a vintage Guardiola performance as City did lose their way somewhat as half-time approached, but they had enough in the tank to see of an in-form Spurs side in the end and get their campaign back on track in the process.

Spurs fans boo Kyle Walker, but fullback has last laugh

Manchester City aren’t traditional rivals of Tottenham, so perhaps the incessant booing of Kyle Walker was unwarranted?

The jet-heeled fullback, after spending an eventual couple of seasons at White Hart Lane, made the switch to the plush environs of the Etihad Stadium but clearly, the Lilywhites faithful weren’t in a mood to let him forget.

Still, considering he’s already won the League Cup and is now almost certainly going to win the Premier League, it’s not too difficult to understand his ambition.

The North Londoners did get a fair bit of change for the Englishman and while the manner of the departure wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t acrimonious by any stretch of the imagination.

And did we mention that the Sky Blues just completed the double over their ‘new’ rivals this season?

Match referee John Moss gets two major calls wrong

After Gianluigi Buffon’s tirade against English referee Michael Oliver, there have been calls for officials to be afforded more respect but one has to call a spade a spade here.

Match referee Johnathan Moss kept a tie that at times got fractious under control but somehow managed to miss/incorrectly call the two major decisions in the tie.

The first one was the penalty that was awarded to Manchester City in the 24th minute.

While Hugo Lloris did commit a foul, no debate there, and deserved a yellow card as well, the Spurs custodian had tripped Raheem Sterling just outside the box.

Now, for a high-intensity game such as this, it can get difficult to make a call especially when the margins are so fine but the the referee had the perfect view and without hesitation, pointed to the spot when instead, he should have signalled for the free-kick.

And then, perhaps to atone for his small but significant error earlier, Moss chose to completely overlook Ben Davies’ despicable challenge on Vincent Kompany.

The Welshman, not the dirtiest player around, inexplicably went in on Kompany’s shin and probably didn’t get too much contact for the Belgian defender would definitely have been injured otherwise.

A red card offence surely and while it all balanced itself out in the end, Davies’ challenge did leave a bad taste in the mouth while Moss’ ‘mistakes’ will spark a fresh debate for VAR to be introduced.

Erik Lamela gets the nod, but fails to make most of his chance

Ben Davies was arguably Spurs’ worst player on the pitch purely due to his horrendous tackle on Vincent Komany but Lamela ran him mighty close.

Not because the Argentine was guilty of a horror tackle, but because his offensive contributions were extremely poor.

Nobody’s questioning his work-rate, but on a night such as this, especially considering Heung-Min Son was benched for him, the 26-year-old needed to do much more in the opposition half.

Too many times he chose the wrong option when Spurs had the ball, as he failed to vindicate his manager’s decision to start him in place of the Korean winger.

No Fernandinho, no party?

With Fernandinho serving a two-game suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards, Pep Guardiola’s hand was forced as he sent out his side without the combative Brazilian.

The PFA Player of the Year six-man shortlist featured three City players—Kevin De Bruyne, Leroy Sane and David Silva— and while the trio deserves their nominations, one has to wonder what Fernandinho needs to do to get the appreciation his deserves?

If N’Golo Kante could win the gong last season for playing his part in Chelsea’s triumph, surely City’s No.25 deserved to make the shortlist at the very least?

Coming to the point, Fernandinho’s absence left a huge void in the middle of the pitch and City struggled mightily as a result.

The fact that they do not have a like-for-like replacement has hurt them time and again for an ‘over-dependence’ on the South American seems to have developed.

Of the aforementioned three nominated for the PFA Player of the Year awards, two (Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva) were in the midfield alongside Ilkay Gundogan but against Spurs, neither of the three proved to be an effective shield for their defence.

The true worth of a player is noticed when he’s not playing and on this showing, City look rather vulnerable without their enforcer in midfield and clerly, his return cant come soon enough for the Citizens.