Son Heung-min’s strike earned Nuno Espirito Santo victory in his first Premier League match as Tottenham Hotspur head coach, as they beat champions Manchester City 1-0 at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday evening.

The defending champions showed their intent early on and should’ve broken the deadlock after five minutes but Fernandinho headed his effort inches wide of the upright, despite Hugo Lloris being out of goal.

Spurs had a chance to take the lead in the 24th minute when Lucas Moura fired his strike goalwards but Ilkay Gundogan saved City’s blushes after clearing the ball off his own goal line.

City had a glorious opportunity to open the scoring in the 35th minute Raheem Sterling’s deflected cross fell to Riyad Mahrez in the center of the penalty area but the Algerian got his strike all wrong and failed to trouble Lloris.

The home side should’ve found the back of the net in the 40th minute when Son Heung-min worked the ball onto his right foot before getting his shot away but saw his curling effort deflect and drift wide of the target as the game went into the break locked at 0-0.

Spur came out the better side in the second half and produced the first chance at goal when Fernandinho was dispossessed by Alli, who then played in Hojbjerg before getting his shot away which almost fell kindly for Son, but Dias was alert to clear the danger.

The home side continued to dominate proceedings in the second half and managed to break the deadlock in the 55th minute when Son beat his marker before steering the ball beyond Ederson to find the far corner from the edge of the area.

Nuno Santos’ side should’ve doubled their lead four minutes later but Bergwijn beat Ederson and clipped the side netting after going through on goal.

City had a chance to level matters in the 70th minute after Gundogan slid the ball into the path of Cancelo, who sent the ball across the face of goal to Torres, who got a touch but couldn’t steer the ball home.

Lloris came to his sides rescue five minutes later when he made a comfortable save to deny Grealish’s strike from a tight angle.

Son nearly completed his brace in the 79th minute when he unleashed a strike from just outside the box but Ederson was on hand to palm his effort out for a corner.

The visitors pressed forward in the closing stages of the game but Spurs managed to hold on to secure a narrow 1-0 win at home against the defending champions.