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Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou believes it was only natural Manchester City would drop from their “unprecedented standard” but would not be surprised to see them win the Premier League next season.
Spurs host Pep Guardiola’s faltering champions on Wednesday with the chance to register a third win against them this season.
A 2-1 victory for Postecoglou’s side in the Carabao Cup back in October was City’s first loss of the campaign, but sent them on a downward spiral where they suffered nine defeats out of 12 matches to slip out of the title race and leave them in a battle to secure Champions League qualification.
City moved quickly in the winter transfer window with the big-money additions of Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis, Omar Marmoush and Nico Gonzalez in an effort to rebuild an ageing squad which had won four titles in a row and Postecoglou can foresee a world where they bounce back.
“It looks like they’re going through a rough trot at the moment but that’s because of the unbelievable standards they have set since Pep has been there,” Postecoglou reflected.
“I think it’s just a way of elite sport, you know and it just sheds light on how extraordinary they have been.
“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, 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 going to continue forever, I mean that’s just not sustainable.
“But you know what, 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.”
Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero remain sidelined and Ben Davies is set to miss out, which means Kevin Danso and Archie Gray – out-of-position – will continue at the heart of defence.
Spurs also missed key personnel when they won 4-0 at the Etihad in November and Postecoglou will relish this latest battle.
He added: “It’s a great challenge.
“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.
“I love coming up against Pep’s teams and looking forward to it.”
