GETTY Mauricio Pochettino: Tottenham is bigger than Manchester City

Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City last summer as the world's top manager, having won 21 trophies at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, but has endured a bumpy ride in his first six months. City's 4-0 loss at Everton last weekend was Guardiola's heaviest league defeat in management and left them 10 points off leaders Chelsea and outside the top four. But Tottenham boss Pochettino has warned City will bounce back from their recent slump. "It means nothing for City to lose to Everton," Pochettino said. "It does not change my admiration or my thoughts about him. Sometimes you can win, you can lose. That is the game. "He needs time. He's in a position that is still that they can win titles. And he only has to wait.

GETTY Pep Guardiola's Man City has suffered a slump in form and are outside the top four

"He doesn't need to show his quality, his real quality as a coach and how he manages the team. He's shown enough at Barcelona and Bayern Munich. "Sometimes it's about managing expectations. You cannot win titles after a few months. You need to wait until the end. And I'm sure Guardiola will fight with Manchester City at the end for big things." Pochettino beat Guardiola's Barcelona during the Argentine's debut campaign at Espanyol in 2009. But he is yet to win a trophy after eight years in management, while Guardiola went on to claim six league titles in Spain and Germany plus the Champions League twice. Pochettino believes a competitive Premier League has levelled things out for the two bosses and he now has a side capable of taking on Europe's elite. Reflecting back on his time in Spain, the 44-year-old said: "We are talking about Barcelona, one of the best teams in the world, alongside Real Madrid. The gap was massive.

GETTY Guardiola is a huge admirer of Antonio Conte's style of football at Chelsea

"Now at Tottenham I don't know. Historically Tottenham is bigger than Manchester City. With the fans, it's bigger at Tottenham. "It's true that Manchester City has a different philosophy, not a different level because this season is not complete, but they have a different way to Tottenham. "It's too difficult to measure if there is a gap or not. Tottenham is completely different to Manchester City. With Espanyol and Barcelona you could measure the gap. But here it is too difficult to measure the gap. We are in a completely different world." Second-placed Spurs could open up a six-point gap on City with a win at the Etihad this afternoon but Pochettino has talked down hype of a first title at White Hart Lane since 1961. "We can't look in advance of the (current) time. The squad is very young, I'm very young still," Pochettino said. "I am here to try to help the club achieve big things. We have unbelievable players, an unbelievable squad. They need time and patience. It's true that our objective is to win titles and to bring the club to a level it deserves." City's first defeat of the season came at White Hart Lane in early October and Guardiola makes no secret he is a huge admirer of Pochettino and likens the way Spurs play to Antonio Conte's high-octane style at Chelsea.

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