Premier League: Tottenham's Younes Kaboul relishing Manchester City test

Captain Younes Kaboul is confident that Tottenham will not suffer another embarrassing defeat against Manchester City.

Manuel Pellegrini's men inflicted plenty of misery on Spurs last season, with the visitors enduring a 6-0 rout at the Etihad Stadium before a 5-1 hammering at White Hart Lane in the other Premier League meeting.

The north Londoners will face the defending champions again in a fortnight and Kaboul has urged his teammates to ready themselves for a more closely contested battle.

"What happened last season was last season," the Frenchman said. "In football the most important thing is the present and we look at the future. We look forward to this game.

"Football is football, you never know what can happen, but mentally and physically we have to be ready for this game."

The centre-back played a leading role as Tottenham recorded their first win in five Premier League outings with a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Southampton on Sunday.

He believes the players will head into the international break on a high and hopes to build on this result against City. 

"When you lose, you learn, especially Man City or Man U or Chelsea," Kaboul said. "We look forward to this game.

"We've got two weeks to prepare. It was very important to win today because we've got a two-week break.

"Last time we didn't and it was hard. Today we won and it is very important because before the kick-off we were 12th, now we are sixth. We are very happy."