Tottenham Hotspur will face Manchester City twice and host Brighton & Hove Albion over the next week

After three consecutive home matches, Tottenham Hotspur will travel to Manchester City on Wednesday in the first of a double-header with Pep Guardiola’s team and it is the start of a tricky spell for Mauricio Pochettino’s men.

Following the clash at the Etihad to decide who reaches the Champions League semi-finals, the Lilywhites may as well stay up north because on Saturday lunchtime they will face the Premier League champions again, this time in the division.

Those two matches will be taxing for Spurs and after that, they will welcome Chris Hughton’s Brighton & Hove Albion to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Tuesday for another league encounter.

It will test Pochettino’s squad to the limit and especially with Harry Kane absent for the rest of the season, but last weekend’s 4-0 win over Huddersfield Town boosted spirits and Lucas Moura stepped up with a timely hat-trick.

“Football moves so quick and after the game when Harry got injured, everyone believed Sonny was going to step up and be the man, but I think we have seen first of all Fernando (Llorente) deserved to score and had very good performance,” Pochettino said

“Then Lucas got a hat-trick and it was an unbelievable afternoon for him, so players need to have the possibility to play to show quality.

“If not, it’s difficult and that is why sometimes all the managers are disappointed with the comment when the people say about rotation or selection of the starting XI.

“When you have 24 or 25 players, they need to play and have the opportunity to play and of course I am so happy.

“The performance was very professional, I am happy for Lucas for his hat-trick and it is going to help and build his confidence. We have ahead a very tough period, two games against Manchester City and then Brighton, so it is going to be tough.

“We need all the players fit and with confidence it’s going to be better if we feel we have the capacity to perform in the way we want and for sure we are going to be close to achieve all the things we plan.”