Pep Guardiola has responded to claims about his side’s hunger to be crowned champions and namechecked Liverpool as one of Manchester City’s rivals this season.
Guardiola’s side piped Liverpool to the title last season after one of the most exciting finishes to a Premier League season. City claimed the title on the final day after coming from behind to beat Aston Villa at the Etihad.
But ahead of the start of the new season, Guardiola has explained why his side never thinks about winning the title at the start of every season. The City boss also believes it should not be forgotten that his side have won four out of the last six titles.
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He said: “Never at the start we think to win the league. We don't need the perspective to see what we've done is massive. How the players move.
“The rivals, mainly Liverpool, we've won four in six years, we are incredibly proud. I'd like to say loud how good we've done. We travel tomorrow to London and do a good game in West Ham, always we struggle in beginning of the season.
“We try to avoid it, we have long weeks of preparation, every week we get better. Be competitive, be consistent. I know what we can do. We want to make the next step in the way we play and this is the desire to do it.”
Before he continued: “You're right, the bar with both teams. For the 30 Premier Leagues nobody get more points than both teams.
“There are two [seasons], one before the world cup, you can't win it before but you can lose it. You have to start well, knowing that if we drop points you have 37 fixtures.
“We won two PLs one point ahead, we know we can win 12-14 in a row. Liverpool as well. You have to start well but also the feeling since we arrive, maybe we have a longer vacation than normal, the team I rely on them a lot.
“I see every training session, the guys are still there. How they're training every day, I see we're still there. The confidence I get is from the pitch, every training session.
“How incredibly focussed they are, so far is really there. We'll see, in the low moments how they behave, my job when they are low is to lift them.”
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