Kevin De Bruyne explains why he'd be so impressed if Arsenal won the Premier League
Kevin De Bruyne has offered an honest opinion on the overall quality of the Premier League this season as Manchester City aim to beat Arsenal to their fifth title in six years
Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne believes that this is the toughest Premier League season in years - and hinted it would be an even bigger achievement if his side or Arsenal won it.
Pep Guardiola's side currently sit five points behind the Gunners in the table but have won their last three matches against Bournemouth, Newcastle and Crystal Palace - conceding just once in the process.
However, there is no doubt City have a major task on their hands to catch Arsenal, who are in fine fettle at the moment. Mikel Arteta's side have won five successive Premier League matches in a row and are on course for their first title since 2004.
Speaking ahead of City's game against RB Leipzig in the Champions League, De Bruyne highlighted how difficult the league is this season and admitted it is getting "tougher and tougher" to beat every team week-in week-out.
When asked about his side's form, De Bruyne said: "I think the league has changed a bit, the lower teams they are able to spend more money and buy more quality players.
"I feel like all 20 teams have so much quality and I think the level of difficulty of beating all these teams is getting tougher and tougher. We are second in the league, we are in three competitions, so I think if you are comparing to a lot of different years I don't feel too different."
Arsenal are handling the pressure at the top immensely well as they continue to keep winning by grinding out results and performances. The Gunners recorded a 3-0 win over Fulham on Sunday to secure their fifth victory in succession after beating Aston Villa, Leicester, Everton and Bournemouth.
However, City will fancy themselves to catch Arsenal - with the two sides set to face off once more at the Emirates Stadium in late April, while Guardiola's men have a knack of performing better over the back-end of a season.
Next up for City is the crucial Champions League encounter against RB Leipzig - and De Bruyne is aware of the importance heading into the game. City have still never won the trophy despite reaching at least the semi-final on a number of occasions.
He said: "If you care about the noise, then it's going to annoy people a little bit. We've not won it, but we've done really well in the Champions League, although I know people base everything on only winning.
Pick up your Daily Mirror every day of the festival for racing specials, day by day updates and free bet EVERY DAY.
Celebrate the biggest racing week of the year- the Cheltenham Festival. One of the most prestigious National Hunt Meetings of the calendar is not to be missed…and we’ve got a bumper week of amazing content and great reader offers. Find out more HERE.
"But I feel there's been a lot of circumstances in these kind of games - the Madrid game, the Tottenham game, where we deserved to go through but didn't.
"These are moments in games where these things happen. Obviously I want to win it, but I know as long as we don't I'll come here and get the same questions. And I'm fine because people judge you on that. We just try to win these games and be the best people and team we can be."
