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Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino says it is not about revenge for Man City on Saturday

Written by on 20/04/2019

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino is determined to further derail Manchester City’s season when the two clubs meet again on Saturday, live on Sky Sports.

But the Spurs manager admits it will be very tough for his side, having already ended City’s quadruple bid when they secured a dramatic away-goals win in the Champions League on Wednesday night.

City have now turned their attention to defending their Premier League crown and they will go back to the top of the pile if they beat Spurs.

City boss Pep Guardiola believes the hurt from Wednesday’s extraordinary game will serve as motivation, but Pochettino has denied the hosts will be out for revenge.

“Not revenge,” he said. “For sure, they are going to move on like us from the Champions League to the Premier League.

“They are going to fight for a massive thing which is to win the Premier League and the principal challenge is to win the Premier League for them.”

And Spurs are not able to sit back and bask in the joy of reaching their first-ever Champions League semi-final – where they will meet Ajax – as they are embroiled in their own top-four battle.

They are three points better off than sixth-placed Manchester United, with Arsenal and Chelsea in between, and the race for Champions League football looks like going down to the wire.

And Spurs could have perhaps done without such a hasty return to the Etihad as they have suffered injuries in key areas, with forward Harry Kane and Harry Winks definitely out, while the latter’s fellow midfielder Moussa Sissoko looks unlikely to recover from the groin injury he picked up in midweek.

Pochettino said: “Now for us, we need to think that we must be in the top four next season and that is our challenge and it is going to be tough.

“It is made difficult as our circumstances are not the best. They have nearly all players fit and we need to assess players.

“We will miss some players that are so important and we need to think how we are going to mix.

“But, for sure, we need to be sure that we are going to be ready to fight them and challenge them and it will be tough.

“They are not going to fight for revenge. Of course they will try to win the game as they need the three points like us.”

(c) Sky News 2019: Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino says it is not about revenge for Man City on Saturday