Manchester City continue to push to sign Harry Kane

Manchester City continue to push to sign Harry Kane but in the meantime have two significant fixtures in the Premier League

Manchester City flunked their first game of the season as they fell to a 1-0 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.

The Blues were undercooked going into the game and played like it as they failed to exert the control they are usually able to while missing several decent chances to make up for that.

Such a performance came as little surprise to Pep Guardiola though, who had predicted his side would start the campaign slowly given the relatively low fitness levels across the squad and was proven right. One defeat will not define the season – they lost at Spurs last year and still cruised to the league title – yet there is pressure on City not to drop any more points before the international break.

Victories over Norwich and Arsenal at the Etihad will give them six points out of nine before a fortnight of international football in what would be a solid return given the circumstances.

If Guardiola needs his players to get up to speed as quickly as possible, the fixture list has at least handed him the advantage of familiarity.

The City manager knows Mikel Arteta better than every other manager in the league, having worked with him for three-and-a-half years in Manchester before following his progress closely at the Emirates. And he also revealed last season that when he occasionally had some time to spare he would watch Norwich in action, managed by another friend in Daniel Farke.

Whatever else Guardiola has on his plate, preparing to face the next two opponents should be some of the most straightforward tasks he has given how many times he has watched each team and how well he knows both coaches.

That can take some of the pressure from the players, and also help the Catalan himself. His wildcard selection in the Champions League final in May is still raw, while the decision to stick with the defence that had been used in pre-season for the Spurs game backfired at the weekend.

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With tension also simmering over the lack of a signing up front and the decision not to invest at left-back, Guardiola could do with these next two results as much as the players.

Whether or not a deal can be agreed for Kane will go a long way to how City are viewed when the transfer window shuts, yet the Blues boss was keen to point out after the Tottenham defeat that he still has confidence in this current group of players that won the league so convincingly last season.

That will look a lot better if the team is able to pick up wins in their next two games, and while the fixture list after the international break gets tricky these home fixtures look tailor-made for Guardiola to make his point.