Dzeko puts four past Spurs but says City can improve further and ‘win every game’

The former Wolfsburg striker scored four times as he and debutant Samir Nasri helped put Spurs to the sword with a ruthless display of attacking football. Nasri supplied the crosses for Dzeko to score his first two goals and he also played his part in the run-up to Sergio Aguero’s strike, which made it 4-0 with half an hour to go.

Younes Kaboul headed home a consolation goal for Tottenham, but the afternoon belonged to Dzeko, who added to his hat-trick with the last kick of the match.

“I think the last time I scored four was for Wolfsburg in Germany,” the Bosnia-Herzegovina international said. “Today was something special for me, to score four goals in the Premier League is fantastic. I think we’re getting better and better. I hope we can improve in the next game and try to win every game.”

Nasri added: “This is a tough place to win. I had a good game but the most important thing is we won 5-1 and sent out a signal to other clubs. This is just the start of the season, it’s important to keep our confidence, but I’m convinced we have a great team here and can win things.”

Two years ago Tottenham beat City to fourth place and the London side ran Mancini’s men close for the majority of last season, but today’s result was a clear indication of how much City have progressed over the last 12 months.

Described by Spurs boss Harry Redknapp as the “best in the world”, City outclassed the home side in every department, with Nasri and Dzeko the stars as City emphatically earned the result that maintains their 100 per cent league record.

It puts them top of the Barclays Premier League table – barring similar fireworks from Manchester United against Arsenal – having now scored 12 goals. Dzeko, who was ridiculed for parts of last season, has scored six of them.

For all City’s dominance, it was Tottenham who started the brighter of the two teams. Aaron Lennon and Niko Kranjcar both came close to breaking the deadlock in the opening few minutes but City grew in confidence, although the game went into a bit of a lull before City opened the scoring in the 34th minute, with Nasri the architect.

The Frenchman played a tight one-two with Aguero before floating a ball across the box which Dzeko tapped past Friedel after beating Kaboul to the ball.

A block from Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott denied Rafael Van der Vaart before Peter Crouch went within inches of equalising. The England striker did well to get on the end of Gareth Bale’s flat cross but his diving header sneaked just wide. The striker was then made to pay for the miss as Nasri raced up the other end and carefully picked out Dzeko at the back post who arched his back to nod the away side 2-0 up.

After the interval, Redknapp sought to end City’s dominance in midfield by replacing Kranjcar with the hulking figure of Tom Huddlestone, and Jermain Defoe came on for Lennon soon after, with the England winger looking to have suffered an injury.

But with ten minutes of the second half gone, Dzeko got on the end of Yaya Toure’s cross to rifle in to the roof of Friedel’s net for his sixth goal in four matches. And the home side’s misery deepened just before the hour when Aguero brushed past Dawson’s challenge in the box and clipped the ball over Friedel to make it 4-0.

Micah Richards came on for Zabaleta and Redknapp replaced Luka Modric with Jake Livermore, much to the home crowd’s disappointment. But Joe Hart then tipped over a brilliant effort from Defoe and the home side got on the scoresheet from the resulting corner. Kaboul lost Toure in the box and climbed well to head home Van der Vaart’s corner to pull one back for Spurs.

Redknapp’s troubles deepened 17 minutes from time when Van der Vaart walked down the tunnel with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. Having already used three substitutes, Spurs were forced to play the rest of the match with ten men.

Dzeko notched his final strike in injury time with a beautiful curler which ended a memorable afternoon for City and one to forget for Spurs.