While City are the reigning champions, it says a lot about their underwhelming campaign that the comprehensive 2-0 defeat to Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium this past weekend was expected.
The result also hurt their UEFA Champions League qualification hopes, and with Chelsea winning 4-0 against Southampton on Tuesday to move up to fourth, the Citizens could ill afford to drop more points here.
In the first period, at least, they did as much as they could to secure the three points as early as possible and really should have been out of sight at the break.
They did find the back of the net once through Erling Haaland’s tap-in following some good work from Jérémy Doku, but the Norwegian had already seen a shot saved from a promising position by that point and later wasted an even better chance to break the deadlock from close range.
Again though, Guglielmo Vicario was equal to it, as he was to Doku’s low drive from the edge of the area.
Still, Haaland’s miss was not as glaring as the wasted opportunity from Savinho, who was in acres of space and eight yards from goal at the back post when found by Doku, yet blazed over the bar.
Tottenham, meanwhile, struggled to create any opportunities until the 45th minute, when Ederson scrambled to tip Kevin Danso’s header over the crossbar.
After the interval, the roles were reversed. Admittedly, City were not without danger, but it was Tottenham who took the game by the scuff off the neck and had the game’s best chances.
Their main threat was from corners, with Ederson holding Danso and Bentancur headers prior to Pedro Porro glancing one over the bar.
The best opportunity, though, fell to 20-year-old Wilson Odobert, who missed the target at full stretch from Porro’s cross when all he had to do was direct the ball towards goal.
However, Tottenham’s endeavour and intensity eventually faded, although Ederson did need to keep out Son Heung-min’s first-time shot.
A stoppage-time goal for City was eventually disallowed after a lengthy check, but that ultimately made no difference to the outcome.
They are now one point above Chelsea in fifth with 11 games remaining, while their opponents are down in 13th.
Following three straight PL wins, Ange Postecoglou can take positives from this encounter, and he will hope this defeat does not knock the brittle confidence of his young squad.
Flashscore Man of the Match: Jérémy Doku (Manchester City)
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