Phil Foden has enhanced his growing reputation with a superb individual goal in Manchester City's 1-0 Premier League win over Brighton & Hove Albion.
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Hours later, sixth-placed Tottenham Hotspur let slip the lead in a 1-1 home draw with relegation-threatened Fulham.
At the Etihad, Foden took a touch from Kevin De Bruyne's pass to cut inside Brighton defender Adam Webster, before lashing a low, right-foot shot just inside the post from the edge of the area in the 44th minute.
It was his eighth goal in 22 appearances for City in all competitions this campaign, a team-high five of those coming in the league.
With four goals in his past six games, 20-year-old Foden has been City's shining light of late after finally getting a run of games under manager Pep Guardiola.
"The amount of games, the assists compared to the bigger stars in football," Guardiola said of Foden.
"Can play both sides, in the middle as a false nine. He is so clever in front of goal.
"That is why he deserves to play."
City toiled at times against Brighton, especially in the final 30 minutes when the visitors pushed more players forward, but had plenty of chances to win the game by a much bigger margin.
Not least when De Bruyne won a penalty in stoppage time after being brought down by Brighton goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, only for substitute Raheem Sterling to fire his spot kick over the crossbar.
Before that, De Bruyne, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan squandered one-on-one chances, while Bernardo Silva struck the post with an effort.
Still, Foden's goal was enough to lift City above Leicester City and Everton into the top four, with Guardiola's side four points behind leaders Manchester United but with a game in hand.
"We need to win these sort of games. It is a good lesson for us. Every game will be like this," Guardiola said.
City's much-improved defence made it four clean sheets in their past five games, with the only goal conceded coming in the final seconds of their 3-1 win at Chelsea.
In London, in what has become a familiar pattern for Spurs under Jose Mourinho this season, they took the lead, retreated, invite their opponents on, and eventually conceded.
Leading through a 25th-minute diving header put away emphatically by Harry Kane, Tottenham couldn't hold out against a Fulham side playing the game on just two days' notice.
Ivan Cavaleiro scored with a header of his own in the 74th minute to earn the 18th-placed Cottagers a point.
Australian Associated Press
