Tottenham Hotspur cruised past Manchester City 2-1 in the Carabao Cup round of 16 on Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals despite the absence of injured captain Son Heung-min.

Timo Werner opened the scoring for Spurs in the fifth minute at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London, with their lead doubled by Pape Matar Sarr in the 25th minute.

Matheus Nunes pulled one back for City in stoppage time, but the second half remained goalless through the final whistle, putting an end to City’s run in the tournament.

Tottenham’s win over the reigning Premier League champions comes despite the London side’s unimpressive run in the league this season, where they have only secured four wins from the opening nine games.

Spurs captain Son was still absent from the roster as he has yet to fully recover from the injury he picked up during a Europa League game against Qarabag FK on Sept. 26.

He returned for the league fixture against West Ham on Oct. 19 and scored a goal, but Spurs manager Ange Postecoglou have opted to exclude him due to his yet-to-be healed injury.

With Thursday’s victory, Spurs have inched closer to winning their first title since the 2008 Carling Cup — now called the Carabao Cup.

Spurs will face Manchester United, who beat Leicester City 5-2 in the round of 16, in the quarterfinals in December.

Before the continuation of the Carabao Cup, the November international break begins in two weeks, during which the Korean national team will play two 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Kuwait and Palestine.

It remains unclear whether Son will be available for the international break due to his injury. Korea manager Hong Myung-bo initially called him up for the October break but later dropped him due to concerns over his injury.

Spurs will play three more fixtures before the November break, with the squad facing Aston Villa on Sunday at home.

Timo Werner played a major role in Tottenham’s 2-1 win over Manchester City in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday evening

Timo Werner was always destined to have a big moment in a Tottenham shirt at some point over the coming weeks. A campaign that has not gone to plan for him so far with some high-profile misses and a lack of regular minutes coming his way.

Hosting Manchester City in the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, five minutes were on the clock when the Tottenham attacker emphatically found the back of the net to cap off a flowing move. It was very much the finish of a player oozing in confidence.

Six days earlier, Werner’s dwindling confidence levels were there for all to see with such a tame effort when put through on goal in the Europa League tie against AZ Alkmaar. Many Spurs fans inside the stadium no doubt believed that the left-sided player would pass up his latest opportunity when Dejan Kulusevski played an exquisite ball across the face of the goal five minutes into the Manchester City contest.

However, Tottenham’s No.16 gave City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega no chance with a rasping first-time finish to spark pandemonium inside Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. You could see how much the moment meant to Werner and the team as he was soon surrounded by his teammates to celebrate his strike.

Werner could have finished the game with more than the one goal after having another couple of chances to help extend the scoreline. Firstly seizing upon a loose ball on the edge of the Man City box before shooting straight at Ortega, he wasn’t far off from finding the far corner after embarking on a run early in the second half after some fine work from Dominic Solanke to release him.

The attacker’s pace saw him race clear of Rico Lewis and Nathan Ake but his lofted effort agonisingly flew wide the post. As is usually the case with Werner, he does plenty things right but it is the final moment that often lets him down.
That was evident in the first half as he breezed past Savinho in his own half and looked to spark another swift Spurs attack after moving inside and crossing the halfway line at full pace. Unfortunately his next action was all wrong as his intended pass to Kulusevski went straight out of play when it looked such a simple pass to make.

Very frustrating for Tottenham as they looked to get into another position to hurt the visitors, Ange Postecoglou appreciated Werner’s role in the move and applauded him from the touchline even though his play didn’t have the desired outcome. What should also help the player’s confidence levels in the weeks ahead is that he also played a key role in Tottenham’s second goal of the night as Pape Matar Sarr curled a sublime strike beyond Ortega.

Werner and Kulusevski combined on a short corner, with the latter teeing up the Senegal ace on the edge of the box. The finish was so impressive that you could hear gasps from shocked fans around Tottenham Hotspur Stadium when it became clear just how much whip the midfielder had got on the ball when replays of his goal were beamed on the big screens.