Kevin De Bruyne: Pressure on Liverpool and Man City in title race
Kevin De Bruyne believes the pressure Liverpool are under to win a maiden Premier League crown is equal to the pressure Manchester City face have to defend the title.
City trail leaders Liverpool by five points but the gap could have been seven had they capitalised on the champions’ shock defeat at Newcastle.
But with Leicester claiming a 1-1 draw at Anfield, City can cut the gap to two points if they beat Arsenal on Super Sunday before Liverpool’s trip to West Ham on Monday Night Football.
„I think Liverpool will be under some pressure because they have not won it for that amount of time [29 years],“ De Bruyne told Sky Sports.
„But we have pressure because were the champions last year and everybody expects us to be one of the title challengers. I’m not sure who has more pressure, but there is pressure on both teams
„I don’t think knowing how to win the Premier League is an advantage, last season most of us didn’t know how to win a league but sometimes that makes you hungrier if you haven’t won it.
„We are trying to repeat what we did last year and try to win as many games as we can. We will see where we are in two months, if the gap is close it will be a tight race and if it’s not, it’s not.“
Tuesday’s defeat at Newcastle was City’s fourth of the season, twice as many as they suffered in last season’s record-breaking campaign.
„This year it is a little more difficult because teams are more compact, and their plans are probably better than they were last year,“ De Bruyne explained.
„To do the same as last year was nearly impossible, we’ve been on a good level but it’s probably below what we were last year, but we are trying to get to the level we were at last year.
„Last year we would have won or drawn these games with late winners, but we were not able to do that this year. That’s just the way it is, the level is so high from every team that the margin of error is so small.
„If it was last season with the points we have now, we would be first, but somebody is better than us at the moment, so you have to say congratulations. We know how hard it is.“
A philosophical De Bruyne believes if Liverpool beat them to the Premier League title that they will be worthy champions but insists he and his team-mates will fight until it is no longer possible to defend their crown.
„I personally will go until we cannot mathematically,“ he added. „We know we are behind. Seven points, 14 games, it’s a big margin but there are still points to play for.
„You have to go game by game. I didn’t watch the Liverpool game but was happy when I saw they drew 1-1, like they were happy when we lost.
„We try to do our best but sometimes the best is not enough, and you have to take it. If Liverpool win the title with 98 points, congratulations, they will have done well.
„But there is still a lot of things to fight for. People may be down but there is still the FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League, plus we are still fighting in the league – that’s an amazing position to have at the beginning of February.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.