Ilkay Gundogan has issued a warning to Manchester City ahead of the start of their Premier League title defence, which begins on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola 's side have won three of the last four league crowns in England's top-flight and are firm favourites to retain their crown in this campaign.
However, City 's rivals have strengthened significantly in the market this summer, with Chelsea and Manchester United both spending in excess of £100m.
The likes of Liverpool and Leicester City are also expected to cause problems, while Gundogan himself has named Spurs as a side that can be difficult to overcome.
As such, Gundogan is expecting an extremely competitive campaign in the months ahead and doesn't expect the eventual title winners to finish miles ahead of the rest.
“I don’t think that there is going to be one team that just goes flying from the start and wins the league with a big gap. I expect a tough competition this year and a very exciting competition for the fans," he said.
"Especially, two, three or four other teams strengthened their squads quite well, they were already good last season. I think we were just exceptional again. Our standard should be the same like we proved last year, then we will be able to compete.
"If not, it will be tough because the other ones got better and they will also force us to try and achieve our highest level.
"I think Chelsea [will be a challenger]. They also beat us in the Champions League final, they have a great manager, a great concept of the way they play and they have great players obviously.
"Manchester United is going to be there again, but also teams like Leicester and Tottenham, as they have always made life difficult for us in the past. It is going to be tough and I am not expecting an easy season at all.”
While some may expect City to have more confidence from last season's title success, Gundogan explained how that isn't necessarily the case.
“To me personally, it is not a big difference. When I go into a new season, the best thing you can do is just forget about what happened last year. Whether it is something positive or negative, it is a new start.
"I don’t care anymore about last season. Obviously we won trophies again and we are happy about that, it is another achievement in the trophy cabinet. But regarding what is going to happen this year, it doesn’t count anymore. I try not to think about it, put it to the side and start again from zero.”
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