Pep Guardiola Warns Manchester City Stars Against Becoming Complacent in Title Defence

Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players not to become complacent as they aim to retain the league title that they won in record-breaking fashion last season.

City set new records for the most wins, goals and points in a Premier League season in 2017/18, but no side has retained the English top-flight crown since Manchester United did so a decade ago.

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City won the title in 2011/12 and 2013/14 under Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini respectively, but allowed their rivals to catch up the year after and finished 2nd on both occasions.

Guardiola also has experience of his teams becoming complacent. Barcelona finished 2nd behind Real Madrid in his last year at the club, and Bayern dropped 11 more points in Guardiola's second season than they did in his first.

The Daily Mail claims that Guardiola has spent the last few weeks drumming the importance of consistency and concentration into his players, as he hopes to avoid similar pitfalls to those he has endured in the past.

Club captain Vincent Kompany is adamant that this City team won't "fall into the same trap" as their previous title-winning sides.

So far, City are showing few signs of complacency. They beat Arsenal 2-0 in their first match of the new season and thrashed Huddersfield 6-1 in their second. Next up, they travel to Wolves on Saturday.