Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has warned Newcastle United that the champions intend to hit the ground running this season.
In both their Premier League title successes of 2012 and 2014, City needed to wait until the final day of the campaign to secure the crown.
Last year, their away form in the early part of the season proved problematic as they lost four of their first six games on the road.
Pellegrini put that down to the players’ lack of familiarity with his attacking philosophy, but he is confident of avoiding a repeat as the title defence begins at Newcastle on Sunday.
The Chilean said: “We must improve the first part of the season. Last year it was very bad, especially playing away. I hope it will not be so bad. We had so many good things last year, but that maybe is one of them we will not repeat.
“We were starting the season with a new style of playing. Maybe people didn’t believe we could continue playing that same way, but one of the most important things when we won the title was that we continued playing that way.”
Pellegrini said he has strengthened his squad with the arrivals of Eliaquim Mangala, Fernando, Bacary Sagna and Willy Caballero. Further experience is temporarily available following the loan signing of former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard.
But he said he also expected the opposition to be stronger and predicted a powerful challenge from several sides. He said: "I think this Premier League will be exactly the same as the last Premier League. We will have five or six teams with a very strong squad.
“Last year we had a very good squad and a very successful year, but that is the past, that is history.
“I think that important players arriving like Willy Caballero, Sagna, Mangala, Fernando, Frank Lampard will make us a strong squad.”
Despite that, Pellegrini said he was concerned that some of his players might not be match fit.
Several of those involved in the World Cup have had less than two weeks back in training, and the likes of Vincent Kompany, Joe Hart, Pablo Zabaleta, Sagna, Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero all missed last week’s Community Shield.
Aguero is the least likely to be available on Sunday, having injured his groin at the World Cup.
Pellegrini said: “Happy I am not, because I think we need more days because they arrive late.
“But I think it was more important all the players have a good rest after the World Cup.
“We will see in the first three games before the international break how we will do it, but I have a lot of trust in the squad and I hope we will do well.”
Pellegrini is certainly taking nothing for granted against Newcastle, the opponents they beat in their first game last season, winning 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
He said: “Always the first game is the most difficult because it is the next one.
“It is not easy for Newcastle also to bring in three, four, five new players and start to play the way you want to, but it is a difficult game because always it is difficult to play Newcastle.
“Last year we won there [2-0 in January], but it was a tough game. We will try to do our best and we hope to win the three points.”
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