Manuel Pellegrini has insisted that he "was not surprised" that his Manchester City side beat Liverpool to the Premier League title last season.
Last year's top two meet for the first time this season at the Etihad Stadium on Monday night having both made winning starts to the campaign last weekend.
The manager told reporters: "I was not surprised. I was absolutely convinced when I said the words that I said, 'careful it's not finished because they have to play four games more and the pressure when you are at the top of the table is increasing after every game'.
"The most important thing for us was not to think about Liverpool but think about what we had to do. From my experience, when you are finishing the season the pressure increases every week for every team, not only for Liverpool.
"That's why I was absolutely sure they weren't going to win the five games they had to play."
City's success gave the club their second league title in three seasons.
