Ange Postecoglou admits pressure will be on him if Tottenham’s results do not improve by Christmas – with his side languishing in 10th ahead of Man City game

Ange Postecoglou has admitted the heat will be on if Tottenham are still wallowing in mid-table at Christmas.

Defeat at home by Ipswich last time out left Spurs 10th in the Premier League as they travel to Manchester City on Saturday night.

‘If we had beaten Ipswich, we’d be third,’ said boss Postecoglou.

‘So I’m not going to let my life be dictated by one result. I take a wider perspective because I know how fickle it can be, but we need to address our position, for sure.

‘If we’re 10th at Christmas, yeah, it won’t be great. Rightly so, there would be a lot of scrutiny and probably a lot of scrutiny around me, which is fair enough, but that’s not where I plan for us to be.’

The trip to City is the first of nine games in 30 days for Spurs and they take it on without injured defenders Cristian Romero and Micky van de Ven.

Spurs face Man City just days after Pep Guardiola extended his contract at the club until 2027

Rodrigo Bentancur starts a seven-match ban for racially aggravated comments about team-mate Son Heung-min, but Tottenham have appealed in the hope the punishment will be reduced.

‘I’m not interested in looks,’ said Postecoglou when asked about the optics of the appeal.

‘He’s said he’s made a mistake. We’ll accept whatever penalty comes our way. We believe the first one was a little bit harsh, so we’ve appealed, which is our right.’