Pep Guardiola affirmed Manchester City will be a Premier League force again in the future after Erling Haaland sealed a 1-0 win at Tottenham on Wednesday.
Haaland’s clinical finish in the 12th minute bolstered City’s bid to be eligible for next season’s Champions League as they moved into fourth place.
Battling to finish in the top four is a crashing blow for Man City after they won the last four Premier League titles to make it six in seven seasons for Guardiola.
Liverpool look almost certain to take the title this season, but Man City beaten 2-0 by the Reds on Sunday have been out of the race for months after a dismal period which has left them 20 points adrift of the leaders.
With Man City also out of the Champions League following their play-off loss to Real Madrid, Guardiola has only the FA Cup left as a path to silverware this season.
But in the longer-term, the Spaniard remains convinced Man City can be restored to their former glory despite a team ageing in some positions and lacking Premier League experience in others.
The good and bad sides to Man City’s spluttering team were on full display in north London as they began brightly but wasted a series of chances to increase their lead before clinging on under heavy pressure after the interval.
“Never will be this season the old City,” Guardiola said. “Old City were too good, but we will be back.
“The game, it was open second half because we didn’t close the first. In this stadium always they have 20 to 25 minutes and second half we suffered.
“It’s happened many times this season that we give away an unbelievable amount of goals and up front there are many games, like Champions League at Sporting we should be 1-3 or 1-4 in the first half and we lost 4-1. Many times it happens and today fortunately it finished good.”