Guardiola said: “Deserved it? I think so but football is about scoring, not conceding and the statistics were really good today. Unbelievable. The performance was top, top class. These players prove again the reason why they have done what they have done in the past.”

City thought they had scored early on, but Oscar Bobb was ruled offside after Vicario had stopped Foden from close range.

Spurs struggled in the first half and only managed one shot all match. Despite this, Manchester City continued to push for a goal. Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne and substitute Jeremy Doku all had chances but it was Ake who finally scored with just two minutes left after De Bruyne’s dangerous delivery caused chaos in the Spurs box.

This was De Bruyne’s third game back after a serious hamstring injury last season. When asked if De Bruyne was ready to start, Guardiola said: “He is ready. Ready to play.”

Ange Postecoglou was visibly upset after his team’s defeat. He confessed: “We fought hard to stay in the game but to be honest that’s all we did, we stayed in the game.”

“They’re a top team. They’re the benchmark. We’re not there yet and we’re under no illusion about that. I just felt that all of the second half was ok, the first half we were just too passive in a lot of our play and allowed them to get a rhythm.”