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| Vincent Kompany has sent a warning to the Premier League |
VINCENT KOMPANY has warned Chelsea Manchester City want their Premier League title back saying: “We have something to prove.”
Kompany made it 3-0 in the second half following a first half double from rejuvenated Yaya Toure to give City a flying start to the season and put them in good heart for Sunday’s showdown with Jose Mourinho’s team.
City finished eight points behind the champions last season and Kompany was adamant there would be no repeat. “We have something to prove,” he said. “Last season was below what we’re used to doing.
“It was a good way to start the first game. There’s a ot of favoured teams [for the title] and from what I’ve heard we don’t seem to be part of it – so for us this victory was a good way to show our intent.
“It [negativity] gives us extra motivation. We came out knowing we had a point to prove. If you’d seen the faces in training last week, I knew the team was going to be ready for this game.”
Kompany says City have been boosted by the club’s decision to extend manager Manuel Pellegrini’s contract – a move intended to eradicate some of the speculation over his future – and the arrival of £49million signing Raheem Sterling.
“Every club needs stability and you cannot finish the season and start another with questions over who is going to be the manager, so it [new contract] gives us stability and puts us in the right kind of environment,” said Kompany.
“We have some new tools too, Raheem Sterling has given us that sharpness and speed to hurt teams and that gives other teams something to think about. So we have that little bit of danger that we need. The manager has told us we have to be offensive so to have players like that is really important.”
City can open up an early five-point lead over Chelsea by beating them on Sunday but Kompany believes the psychological damage on their rivals of a setback could prove more significant in the long term.
“We are not looking at the points so much but we want to beat them,” he said. “We will not go there thinking about the title but it will matter.”
West Brom manager Tony Pulis took the unusual step of admitting he alone was to blame for the defeat.
“I take responsibility for the way we set up,” he said. “The fact we had Saido Berahino and Rickie Lambert up front together pulled us away from what we should do. I said to them afterwards I’d take responsibility.
“There are certain principles we have to stick by and work with to get results at this level and I went away from that.”
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