Captain Vincent Kompany says Manchester City are focused on more glorious achievements after learning from harsh lessons of the past.
No team has retained the Premier League title since neighbours United did so in 2008/09.
Previous champions Chelsea finished fifth last season, but a staggering 30 points behind Pep Guardiola’s side as they notched records including most points, wins and goals.
City faltered after triumphs in 2011/12 and 2013/14, but their long-serving skipper has high hopes that this may be the season where they do not.
Kompany’s men have started in stunning fashion, coasting past Chelsea to win the Community Shield before opening the league campaign with crushing wins over Arsenal and Huddersfield, who were beaten 6-1 on Sunday.
And the Belgium centre-back says he was not worried that the desire for more success would diminish when the players returned after a summer that also included the World Cup.
“Not with this team, but you never know until you have done it,” he said.
“Many players win the league for the first time and they come back and it’s something you have to feel, to see in their eyes if things have changed or not.
“I’m not saying we are going to do as well as we did last year, but if it happens that the season is going to be different then it has to be because of the other teams being stronger, not us being weaker.
“I can only say it’s [now] different from previous years we have won the league. I think everyone has been warned enough as well.
Divided over football but in the end, it’s all love. ✌🏾#Manchester pic.twitter.com/CR0IaTT5dg
— Vincent Kompany (@VincentKompany) August 16, 2018
“No team in the last nine seasons has been able to repeat and win the league. There’s been so many warnings we have had and every single time we almost have to fight against ourselves and our nature, not to fall in the same trap as the other teams have done – my teams included a few years ago.
“But I can see that everyone is training hard. There’s so much competition in the team that we have to do that anyway.
“If I can say one thing, you are never guaranteed to win the league, but if we can compete then we will have done something what no other team has done since the last nine years.”
In a week where City lost playmaker Kevin De Bruyne for three months with a knee injury and then provided an insight into their title-winning campaign through the Amazon Prime documentary ‘All Or Nothing’, Kompany admitted an impressive home victory over Huddersfield was perfect.
Sergio Aguero grabbed a ninth Premier League hat-trick and Kompany, 32, added: “It feels great. It was a special week. The Amazon documentary came out and we were on the back of two big wins against two big teams.
“It is the easiest moment to let something go you know. It (Huddersfield) was a difficult team for us to face last season and it was a special week and we did extremely well. From the first minute to the last the team wanted to win and took this game seriously. I’m happy with that.”
