Former Manchester City defender Richard Dunne believes only complacency can derail the club's title bid.
Dunne made 296 appearances for City between 2000 and 2009, part of a career that saw him play 80 times for the Republic of Ireland, including at the 2002 World Cup.
The former centre-back doesn’t think that City will fall prey to the overconfidence which he believes is the only thing standing in their way.
“Complacency is the only thing that can stop Manchester City from becoming Premier League champions again this season,” Dunne wrote in The Irish Independent.
“They could get overconfident and feel they have the job done before it is done. But I can’t see that happening. I can’t see the three other teams [Burnley, Leicester and Brighton] preventing them from scoring.”
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Dunne doesn’t think Liverpool can expect to win the Premier League title that has eluded them since 1990 after City beat Manchester United in Wednesday’s derby.
He also thinks that City’s Champions League exit at the hands of Spurs will sharpen their focus on picking up a second consecutive title.
“Liverpool will see out the season in hope, more than anything else, while City look confident and as soon as they came away from Old Trafford with a win on Wednesday, they were in control.
“They seem to be over the disappointment of the Champions League, they can focus on the league title now and they can put everything they have into winning the league again. In fact the loss in the Champions League is driving City on to go for the treble.
“This run that City are on is incredible, if they do get 14 wins in a row that will be an incredible achievement. The midweek derby means that City and Liverpool have played the same number of games so it’s a lot clearer what City have to do, with no more games in hand to worry about.”
Liverpool are one point behind the Blues but can put pressure back on their title rivals as they face Huddersfield on Friday, with a win seeing them back to the top of the table ahead of City’s clash with Burnley at Turf Moor on Sunday.
