Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has said his side are looking to fight Liverpool for the Premier League title this season after conceding the trophy to Jurgen Klopp's side last campaign.
City failed to mount a strong defence of their league title in 2019-20 as Liverpool set a blistering pace en route to an 18-point margin of victory over De Bruyne's men in second place.
After Liverpool began their 2020-21 campaign with two straight wins, City got their season started with a win of their own on Monday as De Bruyne scored from the spot in a 3-1 victory over Wolves.
“I think we played really well,” De Bruyne told Man City's official website. “With just two weeks training, it was always going to be hard.
“But we kept it tight and I think we did really well and we know you have to start well.
“Wolves have been a bogey team for us, so to come here and do this performance is good. We were missing some players. We will go game by game; Thursday is another one.
“If the title pace is the same as the last few years it’ll be hard. We want to fight with Liverpool. That’s what sport is all about.”
After 10 years of sterling service, City will be without David Silva this term after the veteran Spaniard joined Real Sociedad in the off-season.
Though De Bruyne admitted that his side will miss Silva, he is confident that they have the necessary reinforcements to make up for his absence.
“Whoever plays in place of David will do their thing,” the Belgian said.
“Everyone has to play with their own quality. David is the master of tight spaces, but in Phil [Foden], Bernardo [Silva], Riyad [Mahrez] and Raheem [Sterling], we have players who can do the job. But obviously he is a big miss.
“We have so many attacking players, I can slot them in and they can do the rest depending on the formation of our opponents.”
Man City's next match will come on Thursday when they host Bournemouth in the Carabao Cup.
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