Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that had you asked him before the game his preference – staying in the Cup or concentrating on the Premier League it would have been “beating Tottenham.”

The manager was unhappy with all three goals scored by the north Londoners declaring:  “The first one was in our best moment when we were dominating the game. We weren’t having clear chances but making approaches to their box and then they scored their first goal.

“The second was a mistake of our defender and the third a corner, so if you want to win you have have better concentration when defending and be calmer when you have chances in the other box.

“After they scored the first we continued working to try to equalise. We had some moments to do that, but we lost in the end.

“When you don’t win nothing is positive for me but I think we continued in the mentality that we can play against anyone at the same level.”

He added: “All the big teams try to play in all the competitions to the end, so I can’t be happy that we are going to be concentrating on the Premier League.

We need to do it because we are eliminated but if you asked me before the game I preferred to beat Tottenham and continue in the cup until the last stage.

I didn’t want Felipe Anderson to play more than 45 minutes, we need to play on Saturday also so before the game I decided he would play just 45 and Robert the other 45 minutes.”