Manuel Pellegrini refuses to look for excuses

City have made a blistering start to the new season, winning their first three games in impressive fashion to quickly establish themselves as Barclays Premier League title favourites.

The club have spent more than £100million on new signings over the summer and there could still be more activity with negotiations apparently ongoing over a reported £58million deal for Wolfsburg's Kevin de Bruyne.

City have acted decisively after last season's disappointing runners-up finish to Chelsea and expectations are rising.

Pellegrini said: "Last season we had some (Financial Fair Play) restrictions but I didn't give any excuse for not winning the title.

"This team must try to win titles every year. It's not so easy because you have strong teams here in the Premier League and you have strong teams in the Champions League, but we must try to do it.

"The best way to at least try is to have a good squad. That's what we are trying to do now and we will finish on Tuesday when the transfer window is closed.

"After that you need to know how to play in the way we are doing. It's very important to have a good performance as individual players and a good performance as a team.

"So, with more players or without more players, I never had excuses about not winning titles."

City have scored eight goals and conceded none in their opening three victories. They will be looking to maintain their 100 per cent start, and stretch their run of league wins stretching back to last season to a club record 10, against Watford at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

But after playing once a week for the past month, the workload will increase in September as the Champions League gets under way.

Pellegrini, now in his third season with City, is ready for the step up in intensity.

He said: "We learned about a lot of things last season.

"We are going to have as strong a squad as we can. It's a squad that can win important things."