Manuel Pellegrini has warned his Manchester City players not to expect as easy an afternoon against Tottenham Hotspur today as they got in their two meetings last season.
The Barclays Premier League champions cruised to a 6-0 victory when Spurs arrived at the Etihad Stadium last term, before then collecting a simple 5-1 win in London.
The two sides meet this afternoon for the first time in the new season and Pellegrini is convinced that his team will encounter "a different Tottenham". Andre Villas-Boas - in charge for the 6-0 defeat in Manchester - has been removed as head coach at Spurs to be replaced by Mauricio Pochettino, with the Argentine having led his new side on an unbeaten run away from home. That includes a draw with rivals Arsenal.
City will provide another test for Spurs and Pellegrini has been impressed by the resolve shown by the London club this season. He has credited Pochettino - who has come up against Pellegrini as the manager of Espanyol and Southampton - for revitalising the team.
"I am sure it is a different Tottenham," said the City manager. "Last year, one of the best games that we played was against Tottenham away. Here also we played very well but we are not expecting that we can score six or five goals every time we play Tottenham.
"They are a very strong team. Mauricio Pochettino is a very good manager. I'm not saying Villas-Boas wasn't in that moment, but really we played our best last season. We hope on Saturday we can play a very good game also.
"He [Pochettino] is a young manager that was very successful in Spain with Espanyol, it was a team that always played attractive football and it was a creative team. He is trying the same way he did it last season at Southampton. That was a team that played very well, he continues now at Tottenham."
Pellegrini has acknowledged that Yaya Toure is in contention for a place in the City starting XI despite playing for the Ivory Coast in a 4-3 home defeat by DR Congo on Wednesday, with the midfielder returning to Manchester a day later.
If Toure is suffering from fatigue that may open the door for Frank Lampard - the club's player of the month for September - to start this lunchtime. Pellegrini has not been surprised by how well 36-year-old Lampard has been performing since joining City on loan.
"For me it is maybe not a surprise because I know his quality," said the City manager. "I am very happy."
Younes Kaboul has urged his Tottenham team-mates to prove their quality too, with the defender having been encouraged by the confident start made by his side this season. "Last season's games [against City] are in the past and in football you always have to focus on the present and look to the future," said Kaboul, whose side will give goalkeeper Hugo Lloris ample time to prove his fitness to play this afternoon.
"We can't wait for this match, we want to go there and play our game. We need to repeat the same performance we produced against Arsenal. In these big games we need to show everyone what we are capable of."
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