Sunday 28 October 2018 23:57, UK
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admits he was wrong to refer to Tottenham as "the Harry Kane team".
Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino claimed Guardiola was disrespectful to the London club when he used the term last year - as it implied the England talisman was their only significant player.
Guardiola insisted he did not mean that and the reference was intended as a compliment to Kane, but he accepts it came out badly.
And he feels Spurs have disproved his remarks with their performances - they are just two points behind City going into Monday's match at Wembley.
"They show me how wrong I was," said Guardiola - who agrees that Monday's game is vital, with both teams in such good form.
"When you play against the contenders, it's almost six points, isn't it?
"These are important. I don't know what's happened in the past but it's true that the strong teams are making a lot of points, they are not dropping points easily.
"That's why maybe the games against the contenders are becoming so important. We've started with three games away against them. That's why it is so important to take those points."
This is a message Guardiola clearly got across to his players last season.
City were beaten by Liverpool and Manchester United during their record-breaking campaign but, in the latter case, the title was all but secured by then.
Guardiola said: "The first year (he was in charge), we dropped a lot of points against contenders.
"Except Anfield and United at home, we won everything in the second season.
"The reality is what we've done last year, you have to be focused on everyone.
"That we had 100 points is because we were focused on all the games."
