Asked whether the game could be switched, Guardiola said: “I don't know - I can only say, when that happens the last five games - four are away …”

Would that be a problem for City? “I think so when you are maybe playing for the Premier League [title], four games away is a little bit different. I'm a manager for what happens on the pitch, this is off the pitch. In the end if Tottenham want to suggest something they'll speak with our CEO, and our people. [We want] the best for the Premier League, for Tottenham… we are going to decide.”

Guardiola said that Kevin De Bruyne’s knee injury would rule him out for two to three months. He said that he could not be sure that the Belgian’s curtailed break after the World Cup finals had been a factor. The 27-year-old suffered a lateral collateral ligament lesion in his right knee but will not require surgery.

On De Bruyne’s shortened summer break, Guardiola said: “We never know. My opinion when you ask a lot of the players, more than 11 months, then after he comes back, this can happen. Nobody knows but I'm pretty sure when you are fresh, it doesn't happen.”