Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has lavished praise on Tottenham Hotspur ahead of the teams’ meeting on Monday night.
The two sides are coming off contrasting results in the Champions League in midweek, with City cruising to an impressive 3-0 win at Shakhtar Donetsk while Spurs were pegged back late on in a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven.
That result hasn’t dimmed Guardiola’s admiration for Spurs, however: “We saw the game against Inter Milan in the Champions League and the last game at PSV Eindhoven and they were not worse than their opponents – I’d say they were better,” he told the Irish Independent.
“They are one of the teams I like to watch the most. I learn when I watch them. They have a lot of international players and their base is from the English national team.
“They’ve a young team, a good keeper and good strikers. They have everything to be there,” he finished.
OPINION
Guardiola may just be trying to get in Tottenham’s head before his side travels to Wembley on Monday, but you get the sense that he genuinely means what he’s saying here. It’s true that Tottenham were the better team against PSV on Wednesday, but that’s not the point. Once again they surrendered valuable points from a winning position in the Champions League. It’s critical errors like that which will probably see them fail to advance from the group stages. Despite that, Guardiola obviously hugely respects Mauricio Pochettino and his side. The Spaniard saying that he learns from watching Tottenham is a big compliment for the players and coaching staff. The City boss is correct in saying that Spurs have everything to challenge across multiple competitions this season; the players simply have to step up and do it now. It may be too late for their Champions League hopes, but the North London outfit need to make sure they are in the Premier League title race this term.