Dejan Kulusevski openly admits he relishes the challenge of facing Manchester City, suggesting he takes it "personally" when facing the Premier League champions.
The Spurs winger contributed two assists against City in Wednesday's 2-1 Carabao Cup win, helping set up a quarter-final clash with Manchester United.
The Swedish forward, flourishing in a creative role under Ange Postecoglou, has been particularly prolific against City, tallying more goals and assists against them than against any other team during Pep Guardiola's time in charge.
Following his pivotal role in Tottenham's midweek success, Kulusevski told the Mirror: "I knew I had to do something important as it's an amazing game to play against this team.
"I take it personally to play against City, I promised myself that I was going to have a good game and I think I did."
He stressed that his dynamic performance was not a response to Spurs' loss at Crystal Palace last Sunday, but rather, it stemmed from his ambition to test himself against top teams.
Kulusevski added: "It wasn't about Palace, no, it's just because it's City. I love to play against the best because it's extra-motivating.
"It's a personal thing, everybody that is close to me knows it and I knew that I was going to shine because I prepared for this game for a long time. I knew I had to perform and I did. I've played City away three times and scored three times. There is no fear. In fact, it's the complete opposite of fear.
Kulusevski has set his sights on Aston Villa but is not glossing over Tottenham's defensive issues, especially after a close call against Manchester City.
Reflecting on the match, he expressed frustration at conceding just before the break: "I'm very angry that we conceded the goal in the last second of the half, we can't do that.
"It changes everything when you're going to go in at half-time at 2-0 and then it's 2-1. But we handled it well in the second half, we created so many chances and if we killed the game before it would be all over.
"In the end we stayed strong and everybody contributed."
Spurs' key player under Ange Postecoglou is urging the team to find consistency to make the most of their season.
He continued: "We don't want to be up and down. If you want to be a champion you have to be there every game - that's the main part that everyone has to understand.
"We have to improve away from home against teams that play physically and don't play the football that was played against City. We want to win every trophy and this is a great opportunity to win a cup.
"It will be fun to play against a legendary team next in United."