Pep Guardiola challenged “fragile” Manchester City to accept their reality and break a shocking slump that extended to a fifth straight loss as Tottenham ran amok at the Etihad Stadium. The reigning champions’ hopes of an unprecedented fifth successive Premier League crown are evaporating as they continue to spiral.

If the first scarcely left City distraught, with Guardiola unworried by exiting the Carabao Cup, the latest was more emphatic, more dramatic, more chastening, more stunning. Guardiola’s joint heaviest defeat became an embarrassment.