Ange Postecoglou: Tottenham boss will ‘never understand’ Spurs fans who want to lose to deny Arsenal title

Author: BBC Sport

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Ange Postecoglou will “never understand” any Tottenham fans wanting their own team to lose even if it helped deny Arsenal the Premier League title.

Spurs host Manchester City on Tuesday in a match which could prove crucial to the outcome of the title race.

A win or draw for Tottenham against Pep Guardiola’s side would put north London rivals Arsenal in pole position to finish ahead of defending champions City.

The Gunners currently hold a one-point advantage at the summit but have played a game more than City, who would return to top spot with victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, with one game remaining.

Spurs, meanwhile, are chasing fourth-placed Aston Villa, who they trail by four points, with a Champions League place on the line.

It has left some Tottenham fans with mixed feelings heading into their penultimate game of the season but Postecoglou was clear with his views.

“I understand rivalry. I was part of one of the biggest ones in the world in the last couple of years with Celtic and Rangers,” the Spurs boss said.

“But I’ve never, and will never, understand if someone wants their own team to lose. That’s not what sport is about. It’s not what I love about the game.”

Postecoglou believes “100% of Spurs supporters” want his side to win against City but acknowledged “people are allowed to feel the way they do”.

The 58-year-old Australian, however, said he has not “lived my life” taking “pleasure from other people’s misery”.

He added: “Real success looks like trophies. Anything else in between, bragging rights, whatever, it is absolutely meaningless to me.

“What do you think is going to happen? What do you think we are going to do as a team, or any team on this planet? Aren’t we going to just try to win? It’s a simple premise. How that makes people feel, I’m not really fussed and I don’t really care.”

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‘If we don’t win, we don’t win the league’

City boss Guardiola was unequivocal on the importance of the result on Tuesday.

He said anything other than victory at Spurs will see them squander the chance to win an unprecedented fourth successive English top-flight title.

City have won seven games in a row and not lost in the Premier League since December, while Spurs’ victory over Burnley on Saturday was their first in five outings.

“The mindset is easy because if we don’t win, we don’t win the Premier League,” Guardiola said.

“It’s obvious. We have just one option: win the game. We travel for that.”

Guardiola’s side have been in similar situations previously, holding their nerve on the home straight to win the title in 2018-19 and 2021-22 by a solitary point.

On both occasions Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool pushed City all the way to the final game of the season.

Guardiola added: “I felt from what happened in the past with the way we were playing against Liverpool I said ‘Either we win, win, win or it will be over’.

“I had the feeling to beat Arsenal is so difficult because they make very good things in all departments and are difficult to beat so if we have the chance for it to depend on us we have to use it.”

Related Topics

• Premier League
• Manchester City
• Tottenham Hotspur
• Arsenal
• Football