'I couldn't sleep' - Inside Man City's pivotal dressing room moment at Tottenham

Pep Guardiola calmed nervy Manchester City players down at half-time against Tottenham by telling them they wouldn't be judged on 90 minutes.

The Premier League champions travelled down to a stadium where they had lost all four previous league matches knowing that three points were essential if they were to keep control of the title race going into the final day. Kyle Walker revealed after the game that he had struggled to sleep in the build-up to it with all the nervous energy, and it was a jittery opening 45 minutes that was missing the confidence that the team have played with in recent weeks and they went in at the break goalless.

It was then that Guardiola earned his money, telling the players that all he wanted from the second half was for them to be able to say that they had given their all. In fighting until the final week of the season after winning the Treble last year, they had already proven enough to him.

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"I think that maybe sometimes people forget we are humans and the emotion, the nerves, the adrenaline, it’s all running through your body," Walker said. "I couldn’t sleep last night. I was scrambling to get half an hour at the hotel today. And then everything is going through your head.

"I thought we lost a lot of silly balls in the first half but we came out in the second half after having a talking to by the manager and him saying that as long as we can look each other in the eyes at the end of the game and say we have done our best and that he is not going to judge us on this one game. What we have done as a collective