Thegoalmac understands that Mauricio Pochettino says confidence is high at Tottenham as they head to Manchester City hoping to atone for two humbling defeats last term.
Under Andre Villas-Boas and Tim Sherwood, Spurs conceded 11 goals to
City during the 2013-14 Premier League season, following up a 6-0 away
defeat in November with a 5-1 loss on home soil two months later.
However, Pochettino believes his team can build on a 1-0 win over
Southampton prior to the international break, which ended a run of four
top-flight matches without a win, when they visit the Etihad Stadium.
The
Argentine said: "We arrive in a good moment. After our victory against
Southampton we need to keep the momentum, to reproduce the same actions
and to try to get the three points.
"It's not important now to
think in the past. It's important to look forward. I don't have any
concerns about these results [in last season's matches against City]."
Tottenham, who sit sixth in the table, are set to make late checks on
Hugo Lloris (thigh) and Nacer Chadli (hip) after they pulled out of
respective Euro 2016 qualifiers for France and Belgium earlier this
week.
Former City striker Emmanuel Adebayor and Nabil Bentaleb
are due to return from international duty on Friday, while Kyle Naughton
(ankle) and Kyle Walker (pelvis) remain sidelined.
Typically
strong at home in recent years, champions City have dropped points in
two of their opening three league matches at the Etihad this season.
A 3-1 victory over Liverpool represented a productive first home outing
for Manuel Pellegrini's men, but a shock 1-0 defeat to Stoke City and
an unconvincing display in the draw with leaders Chelsea followed.
Frank Lampard is relishing the prospect of facing Tottenham, having
represented two of their London rivals in Chelsea and West Ham.
"I've done alright against Spurs over the years and playing them was
always a big game at Chelsea," the veteran midfielder told City's
official website.
"Even when I was at West Ham, Tottenham were
big rivals so I've always seen it is a big game and something to mark on
the calendar and that doesn't change now I'm at City.
"I think they'll be up and around the top six this season.
"They may go through a slight transitional period but I was very
impressed with their manager when he was at Southampton and if he can
bring the same imprint on Tottenham they'll do really well."
Second-placed City are set to be without Samir Nasri (groin) once again,
while Fernandinho did not join up with Brazil after picking up a
hamstring problem against Aston Villa, putting his participation in
doubt.
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