Manchester City playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has stressed the importance of beating their rivals at the top of Premier League this season.
City failed to sustain a title challenge last term and their record against the other teams that finished in the top seven proved a major shortfall.
In games against Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester United and Everton, City – who ended the campaign third, 15 points off the top – collected just 11 points.
They may have gone some way to addressing that by thrashing Liverpool 5-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
De Bruyne, who set up goals for Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, said: “The only thing we didn’t do last year was win the big games.
“I thought we deserved to win a few more games than we did, especially at home, like the ones against Tottenham and Chelsea.
“It makes a difference – that’s five or six points extra and they are losing those points so then you are closer together.”
City have spent more than £200million since the end of last season strengthening their squad for a renewed challenge.
De Bruyne said: “The guys who have come in have a very physical quality, they are very strong, very pacy. They make the pitch big, that is a quality of them and it is difficult for the other teams.
“To go around (Benjamin) Mendy and Kyle (Walker) you need to have a lot of trickery and pace and even then they can run back. That is the difference with last year.”