LONDON: Pep Guardiola insisted that Manchester City will regain control of the Premier League in the future after Erling Haaland secured a 1-0 victory at Tottenham.
Haaland’s 12th-minute goal lifted City to fourth place in the league in their bid to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
The race for fourth place has been fierce for City this season after winning four consecutive league titles – six in total for Guardiola in seven seasons at the Etihad.
Liverpool are now closing in on the title, but City – who lost 2-0 to the leaders on Sunday – have fallen out of contention in recent months and are 20 points behind the Reds.
With City also eliminated from the Champions League after losing to Real Madrid in the play-offs, Guardiola now only has the FA Cup to make up for this season’s disappointment.
However, in the long term, the Spanish manager is confident that City can return to glory even though several of its key players are now old and the young players do not have enough experience playing in the English Premier League.
“The old City was too good, but we will come back,” Guardiola said.
Meanwhile, Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou said his team’s fiery spirit consumed them during the first half of the action at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Spurs are currently 13th in the league but have the chance to end their 17-year trophy drought in the Europa League.
“In the first half we were too eager to get the ball up front. I think we missed a lot and when we faced City it allowed them to get into the rhythm.
“They can punish you at any time and we didn’t handle that part well. They scored and had a few chances to add to the score.
“In the second half I thought we dominated the game. We controlled the ball better and were more calm, but we failed to score,” said Postecoglou.