Tottenham: Ange Postecoglou dismisses record against Man City and makes title claim | OneFootball

Premier League rivals meet again on Wednesday night, three months after Spurs’ statement victory at the Etihad

Last laugh: Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham ran out 4-0 winners over Manchester City back in November

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Ange Postecoglou has dismissed the significance of Tottenham’s previous record against Manchester City and says he would not be surprised if they won the Premier League again next season.

City are set to be dethroned as champions for the first time in four years this term, with Guardiola’s struggling side 20 points behind Liverpool ahead of this week’s game in north London.

“The fact that they did win four in a row, and the consistency of that four in a row of just the sheer numbers they accumulated in terms of points, in terms of goals, in terms of wins, it's just competing on all [fronts], it's just an unbelievable and probably unprecedented standard that they set, and it's only natural that that's never gonna continue forever.

“I mean that's just not sustainable. If they bounce back next year and win it, which I don't think anyone in this room could discount that's possible, and you say they've won five out of six, you'd be going 'they're still pretty good', so more than pretty good.

“Sometimes these things happen, you know, I think injuries, key injuries and some things that are going against them, sometimes just brings you back to the field and that's elite sport, it's just fine margins.”

Postecoglou continued: “It is always a challenge when you play City and they challenge you in ways other clubs don’t in terms of their football.

“I know for them they are going through a rough trot, but their football is still a real challenge to play against but it’s a great challenge.

“It’s what you want and you want to measure yourself. They’ll come here and try to play, be dominant on the ball and we want to be dominant, but you know against Man City you can’t be and it’s impossible to be dominant in all facets.

“They will have times in the game where they take control and it’s how we deal with that and cope with that. We’ve done that not too bad in the games we’ve played against them and for us that will be the challenging bit.

“When we have our moments, we have to show quality. I know we beat them and the scoreline sounds convincing at their place, but it was the quality of our finishing that was the difference.

“We didn’t create a lot of chances, but the quality of our goals was high up and you have to against them. I love coming up against Pep’s teams and looking forward to it.”

Postecoglou’s Tottenham predecessors Mauricio Pochettino, Jose Mourinho, Nuno Espírito Santo and Antonio Conte all beat City at in the Premier League, albeit largely with counter-punching approaches.

“I don’t know how much you can read into [previous results against City] because over the course of that time I guess he’s faced different types of Tottenham teams and different managers,” Postecoglou added. “Sometimes it’s just circumstance.

“I know from our perspective and for the most part against the teams that are challenging, we’ve done well in the two years I’ve been here. There has been a couple of games where we’ve been blown away but for the most part our struggles have been against teams that aren’t doing as well in the league rather than the teams that are doing well.

Spurs have won three on the bounce in the league and Postecoglou has no fresh injury concerns ahead of the game.