1 Pep took a group of City players to the cinema to watch La La Land

Pep Guardiola attempted to put a smile on the face of his beleaguered players by taking them to the cinema to watch musical comedy La La Land on Wednesday.

Manchester City face Tottenham on Saturday evening, hoping to end a poor run of results which has seen them lose four of their last eight league matches.

Reports this week suggested Guardiola congratulated his players for their performance on Sunday, when they lost 4-0 to Everton at Goodison Park.

Apt when La La Land is an idiom for being out of touch with reality.

Pep oversaw training and then took Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Jesus Navas, Fabian Delph, Raheem Sterling, Aleix Garcia and John Stones for a day out to celebrate his birthday at the Printworks venue in central Manchester.

The film has received rave reviews and top marks from many critics, hailed as one of the year’s success stories, maybe Pep was hoping for some of that feel-good sentiment to rub off on his players.