Premier League champions are often thought of as a machine but they do feel the pressure before big games

Kyle Walker revealed he did not sleep the night before and was left “scrambling” for a half-hour power nap on game-day, while Pep Guardiola said he had “suffered” throughout. This was only a snapshot of the emotions felt by Manchester City players and management leading up to and during their pivotal match at Tottenham on Tuesday night.

It is easy to see City as a machine; the eviscerating runs to Premier League title after title; No 6 under Guardiola and an unprecedented fourth-in-a-row now close after the 2-0 victory over Spurs . City have made a cold-hearted business out of the accumulation of silverware and records.

• Champions trail Arsenal by a point before Tottenham game
• Guardiola: ‘We know what we’re playing for – it’s a knockout’

Pep Guardiola has admitted he and Manchester City will feel “squeaky bum time” before their pivotal visit to Tottenham on Tuesday as they seek to win a record fourth consecutive title.

City are second, one point behind Arsenal, having played a game fewer. The trip to Spurs is their match in hand before the final day on ­Sunday, when they host West Ham and ­Arsenal are at home against Everton. If City lose at Spurs the destiny of the title will be in Arsenal’s hands and a draw would give them the edge owing to a goal difference superior by three.

• Manager says midfielder asked to leave City two seasons before
• Pochettino confirms Enzo Fernández is playing with a hernia

Pep Guardiola has described Cole Palmer as the “decisive player of the season” and said Manchester City must find a way of negating him in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. Guardiola also revealed that Palmer asked to leave City for two seasons before making his £42m move to west London in September .

Palmer joined City at under-eight level and made 19 appearances for the club across three years before leaving for Chelsea, and having scored for City in their Community Shield defeat to Arsenal in August, as well as in their European Super Cup victory over Sevilla that followed 10 days later. He will line up against last season’s treble winners as the Premier League joint-top scorer with 20 goals, alongside Erling Haaland, who is a doubt for the semi-final.

Treble winners turn their focus to becoming the first English men’s club to claim a double-double in FA Cup semi-final at Wembley

Chelsea beware: at 5.15pm on Saturday Pep Guardiola expects Manchester City to show precisely how little sorrow they feel for themselves after being dumped out of the Champions League by Real Madrid .

The FA Cup semi-final comes 72 hours after Wednesday’s penalty shootout heartbreak and, maybe, too soon for Mauricio Pochettino’s team as a smarting City aim to forget their lost double-treble and take another step in their bid to become the first English men’s club to claim a double-double.

Young midfielder was player of the match against Real Madrid and is now trusted by Pep Guardiola to be centre stage

If you weren’t an experienced Pep Guardiola watcher, you might have assumed there was something seriously wrong with Phil Foden’s spectacular goal at the Bernabéu on Tuesday night . Finger jabbing, face creased with aggression, Guardiola strode on to the pitch to clutch Foden’s face with such vigour that he not only squished Foden’s cheeks but made his ears flap. But that’s just Guardiola showing affection.

Perhaps it is because he sees something of himself in Foden. Johan Cruyff would tell the story of looking for a technically skilful holding midfielder in the Barcelona reserves in 1990. “They told me this boy Pep was the best, so I looked for him in the B team but he didn’t play. I looked for him in the youth team but he didn’t play. Eventually I found him in the third team. I said to the coaches: ‘You said he was the best?!’ And they said: ‘Yeah, but physically …’ And I said: ‘He will grow.’” Citing the mantra that if you’re good enough, you’re big enough, Cruyff took Guardiola into the first team and made him the pivotal player of the team that won four successive La Liga titles and the 1992 European Cup .

• Manager says teams similar level despite City’s 5-1 win last year
• Hosts ask permission to close stadium roof for vocal atmosphere

Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to “hurt and punish” Real Madrid in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu, with the hosts asking Uefa’s permission to close the stadium roof to ensure as vocal an atmosphere as possible.

City knocked Real out of last year’s semi-finals 5-1 on aggregate, which included a 4-0 hammering of Carlo Ancelotti’s team in the second leg at the Etihad Stadium. Guardiola believes that despite the result City and Real are at a similar level. On Tuesday night he wants the holders to take the initiative.

• Foden lights up Manchester City’s 4-1 win over Villa
• Guardiola: ‘What can I say? He can do whatever he wants’

A delighted Pep Guardiola said Phil Foden has “goals in his veins” after his hat-trick in Manchester City’s emphatic 4-1 win against Aston Villa on Wednesday that drew the champions level with Liverpool on 67 points, one behind Arsenal.

Rodri opened the scoring for City at the Etihad Stadium. Jhon Durán equalised on 20 minutes before Foden took over, registering in first-half added time, then on 62 and 69 minutes. It was the 23-year-old playmaker’s second ­treble of the season.

• Klopp’s side top table after Manchester City’s draw with Arsenal
• ‘Always who is first is favourites. It’s not in our hands’

Pep Guardiola said that Liverpool are now favourites for the Premier League title with nine matches left after Manchester City’s goalless draw with Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.

Liverpool came from behind to beat Brighton 2-1 at Anfield earlier in the day to leave Jürgen Klopp’s side two points ahead of Arsenal and three of the champions. Each have only 27 points left to play for and Guardiola was asked if Liverpool are now in prime position.

• City manager believes Sunday’s Etihad showdown is a ‘final’
• ‘To fight for one title that you haven’t won for many years is easy’

Pep Guardiola says Arsenal’s visit is “the final” of their title run-in, with the Manchester City manager claiming his side’s bid to retain the Premier League is far more difficult than Arsenal’s “easy” task of becoming champions after so many years.

City stand a point behind Arsenal, who lead Liverpool on goal difference, with 10 matches left. Mikel Arteta’s team won October’s reverse fixture 1-0 in pursuit of the club’s first league title since 2004 and Guardiola is conscious of how crucial Sunday’s meeting is as he aims to lead City to a record fourth ­successive championship.