Pep Guardiola has revealed how playing Tottenham made him realise how tough the Manchester City job was going to be.
City won their opening seven games of the 2016-17 season under Guardiola, across both the Premier League and League Cup, but were undone by Mauricio Pochettino's side at White Hart lane in October.
That defeat was followed by just one win in their next four and City never matched their early season form as they finished behind Tottenham and eventual champions Chelsea.
"We started quite good in terms of results," he told Sky Sports. "The way we played, some games it was not good ... The people say: 'OK, City are going to win.'
"And then we face Tottenham, a Mauricio Pochettino team. We saw how good they were and I said 'Wow, we are going to suffer. This season is going to be tough.'
"People didn't think Tottenham were going to win the league. I suffered, I lived, I experienced it for the first time away at White Hart Lane against physicality, an amazing team the way they play, high pressing, good build up.
"I said to my friends, 'It will be tough this season here,' and we started to drop points."
