'Everyone knows' - Man City boss Pep Guardiola makes two excuses for Tottenham Hotspur hammering

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola pointed to his side’s injury problems and players coming back late from international duty when attempting to dissect Tottenham Hotspur’s 4-0 victory at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

Spurs, two weeks on from losing 2-1 at home to Ipswich Town, trounced the reigning Premier League champions with two goals in each half. James Maddison netted twice to give the visitors a healthy lead at half time with Pedro Porro adding a third on 52 minutes. Brennan Johnson sealed the victory with a fourth goal in the third minute of stoppage time.

Discussing the result, Guardiola was keen to point out that City have had several players missing through injury this season. The most notable of those absentees is defensive midfielder Rodri - who is out for the campaign with an ACL injury. The likes of John Stones, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish have also had fitness issues this season. Guardiola also pointed to players returning late following the international break.

Guardiola told Sky Sports: "We do not expect opponents to not create chances and score goals. We're in the moment. We started really well, we had chances and after the first time they arrive we concede. Then it's a bit more difficult to come back. Chances were there. The moment they create the chances the build-up, we couldn't handle the duels like normally. Now we're struggling a little bit. It cannot happen. When you play top level teams we can concede chances but it's part of process. In our situation it's a bit tougher.

"I have to see the situation. The players came back late [from internationals]. There were a few reasons we're not able to be consistent. Now the balance is not in the right moment. But it happened. We have to do it, talk and on Tuesday against Feyenoord have the chance to try. Of course Rodri is important but we knew that for many months. But Stones can only play 45 minutes. Jack has been injured many times. Kevin, two months and five months. We have to come back and freshen our minds. The season is so long. Many things can happen. Before the game I didn't know what will happen today. So I don't know what will happen at Anfield. Everyone knows the situation is new for us. We struggled more without the ball. I don't know how many chances we created. Our game was there."

Spurs were not without injury problems of their own. First-choice centre-back pairing Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero did not feature while Rodrigo Bentancur was suspended. Radu Dragusin and Ben Davies played in the heart of defence for Spurs and received praose from manager Ange Postecoglou afterwards. On his centre-backs, the ex-Celtic boss said: "Brilliant. Ben and Radu were outstanding and Vicario when we needed him. Those two, not just defensively, a part of it was playing out from the back and they had to get on it first. They showed courage and got the rewards. I haven't sensed like we've lost belief. We've just been disappointed in a couple of games when we haven't reached the levels. I don't dismiss today. it's significant. The other four losses were away."