Tottenham came unstuck when they pressed high at the Etihad last season but it was preferable to their timid performance against Manchester City at Wembley

Tottenham would press them, push high up the pitch, even from goal-kicks. They’d be aggressive and adventurous. They’d stop Manchester City playing out from the back. This would be a proper test of Pep Guardiola’s side.

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And they did. Nine days before Christmas last year, Spurs went to the Etihad and pressed hard and high. They did ring City’s box at goal-kicks. But City were not flustered in the slightest, even though they were restricted to just 53% possession against a season average of 65.5% to that point. Ederson just kept pinging long balls over the press: 19 of them, against a season average of 3.7. City won 4-1 and it could have been more.

This is one of the many problems that City cause teams. As Jürgen Klopp has said, sit deep against them, allow them the ball, allow them to get crosses into the box and to attempt long-range efforts, and you are hoping to win the lottery, hoping you’re the team that gets lucky and that this is the day that none of those shots find the top corner, that none of those crosses find a City player in the box.

Also, press hard and high, which probably is the best way to unsettle City, and you leave space behind you, rendering yourself vulnerable to the pace of Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sané and Sergio Agüero. You risk being picked off and suffering the kind of hammering Huddersfield suffered this season. Even Liverpool, who beat City three times last season, suffered a 5-0 thrashing.

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Stung by their experience in Manchester, Spurs seemed timorous in the return game and lost 3-1 without raising much of a fight; the heavier defeat at the Etihad was probably the better performance if only because there had at least been some sort of plan, an attempt to take City on, rather than mere complicity in their dominance.

So what do Tottenham do on Monday? The trip to Anfield aside, City have had a relatively gentle fixture list over the past month or so but the signs are that, tight as the top of the Premier League table appears, they might be even better this season than they were last. Shots on goal are up from 17.5 per game to 22.0 and shots on target from 7.0 to 8.3, while shots conceded remain virtually unchanged. They have a goal difference of +23, which is more than any other side in the league has even scored. Guardiola described Tuesday’s win at Shakhtar as City’s best performance since he arrived.

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All of which would be ominous for Spurs even if they were at their best, which they are not. That this has been their best start to a Premier League season offers a misleading sense of wellbeing. They were fortunate to beat West Ham last Saturday, the latest in a string of less‑than-convincing wins against sides in the bottom half. Their only really dominant performance came in the second half at Old Trafford, and even that perhaps said more about Manchester United than it did them. The Champions League defeat at Internazionale and draw at PSV highlighted a fundamental laxity; their struggles to reach the last 16 feel largely self-inflicted.

Part of the problem has been Hugo Lloris. His pace off his line has been a key for Tottenham since he arrived six years ago but his judgment of late has been questionable. He is still capable of spectacular saves, such as the one to deny Marko Arnautovic last week, but ill-timed charges from his line cost a goal against Barcelona and cost him a red card against PSV on Wednesday. That is a major issue because it is Lloris’s capacity to sweep up behind his defence that allows Spurs to play with a high line. If he begins to doubt himself, or his defence loses faith in his judgment, it is almost inevitable the back four end up dropping deeper, which in turn opens up space in midfield. And if there is any team capable of exploiting such gaps, it is City.

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Mauricio Pochettino may deploy the back three he has used twice in the league this season – even if the second use, in the defeat to Watford, did result in probably Spurs’ worst performance of the campaign. A 3-5-2/3-4-1-2 would allow Spurs to pack the centre, while still engaging City’s wide players high up the pitch (a back four with a diamond risks surrendering the flanks). Fielding Harry Kane alongside Lucas Moura would mean neither City centre-back can act as a spare man. Christian Eriksen then could try to occupy Fernandinho and hamper his role as a metronome at the back of the midfield.

But whatever tactical approach Spurs adopt seems less important than bringing the focus back to their game. Monday should be a test of City’s enhanced form, but recent displays suggest it will be less of a challenge than last December.