Guardiola rues missed opportunity in Man City’s defeat at Tottenham

Pep Guardiola insisted there was a long way to go in the Premier League title race but conceded Manchester City had missed an opportunity following their 1-0 defeat at Tottenham.

Harry Kane’s recordbreaking goal in the 15th minute earned Spurs a third win from their last four matches against the Premier League champions, who could have closed the gap on leaders Arsenal

to two points.

It proved to be Kane’s day with his scuffed first-half finish moving him beyond Jimmy Greaves’ tally and putting him alone as Tottenham’s alltime leading scorer with 267 goals to make both sides of north London happy.

Guardiola admitted: “Yes, of course, Arsenal have dropped few, few points so far and of course there was an opportunity.

“It was important to be close and leave the fifth in the table that Tottenham is right now far away, to secure the qualification for the Champions League next season that is important for many reasons. The team started really, really well with many, many things, creating one or two set-piece chances, but after a mistake we did two weeks ago, today we did it again and of course you have to minimise it, but sometimes it’s not possible.

“Unfortunately it’s happened. Two weeks ago we were able to come back with a more difficult scoreline than 0-1 (to win 4-2). But of course the stadium and everything is completely different. There were a lot of interruptions in the second half and it was more difficult.”

City had failed to score in their previous four trips to Tottenham’s new stadium and Riyad Mahrez went closest in first-half stoppage time when his half-volley struck the crossbar.

Guardiola’s secondplaced side failed to make the most of Arsenal losing at Everton on Saturday.

“A lot of games to play, think about Aston Villa,” he insisted when quizzed on the title race.

“Of course I have a lot of gratitude for these players. Always I try to do my best, I don’t want to drop much but I knew it. I said many times I knew we are not the same after winning a lot. Me included, I am the first to talk about that. It doesn’t matter what happened in the past or the success we had. No, we have to try to do it (again).”