Mauricio Pochettino: Tottenham's Man City defeat an 'unbelievable experience'

Mauricio Pochettino says Manchester City are a great example for his Tottenham team after a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the runaway Premier League leaders.

Tottenham tried to give Pep Guardiola’s side a game in Manchester, but some cheap mistakes and a sensational performance from the hosts meant they were never going to be good enough.

While Pochettino admits that leaving Ilkay Gundogan unmarked for the opening goal early on gifted City the lead, he says Spurs can learn a lot from their experience at the Etihad Stadium.

"I think first of all, the better team won," Pochettino told reporters.

"When you watch the game and you assess the game and the way we conceded the first goal was a massive gift for Manchester City.

"It changed completely all that you compare and wanted to develop on the pitch.

"They are in a very good form and momentum. They are showing why they are the best in the Premier League.

"But for me, you can take some positives from the unbelievable experience for the team to realise that to play for the Premier League we need to improve, we need to learn, to work harder than before and of course we play again today a team that has a lot of quality.

"We need to improve, we need to learn from this situation.

"Today was a very good example to see a team that believe, has quality, has strength and is in very good form. There is nothing to say, they deserve the victory - completely."

Spurs’ chance to show their manager what they learnt from their venture north comes just over 20 miles down the road at Burnley next weekend.