Kyle Walker sets Manchester City’s sights on fifth straight league title

Kyle Walker believes Manchester City can win a fifth consecutive Premier League title, though the captain is conscious of the need to “recharge mentally” before next season.

Pep Guardiola’s side claimed a historic fourth championship in four seasons by beating West Ham on the season’s final day. This followed last term’s treble and City will become the first English club to achieve the double Double if they beat Manchester United in Saturday’s FA Cup final. Walker was asked about the prospect of defending the Premier League title next season.

Related: Manchester City beat West Ham to win fourth Premier League title in a row

“Why can’t we do five in a row?” he said. “We’ll go away after the FA Cup – a lot of us are going to represent our country at the Euros or the Copa América and we’ll do that with pride. After that, I hope we get some sort of a break because you need to recharge, not even physically but mentally. But I can assure you when we come back for pre-season it might take us a few days to get the cobwebs off but as soon as that first Premier League game comes we’re straight back into motion and trying to defend our crown.”

Walker sees no break in City’s relentless pursuit of trophies. “It’s a machine, a well-oiled machine, and he [Guardiola] is the driving force,” he said. “It comes from the manager. He pushes you every day and I can assure you what he is like on a match day he is like every day in training. He doesn’t put it on for documentaries or anything; that’s him and it breeds into you.You’re like a sponge and feed off that because his energy rubs off on you and it’s down to us as players to follow his message and deliver.”

No inspiration is required for the Cup final. “The motivation speaks for itself,” Walker said. “To be the first team to do the double Double … the first team to win four in a row, the first team since Manchester United to do the treble: we keep knocking down these hurdles and this is another that we need to knock down.

“But it’s against our rivals who live in the same city and are going to want to rain on our parade. We need to make sure that we play the game we have been playing, particularly to the back end of this season. To go on the run that we went on when Arsenal were as they were is great credit to us and shows the enthusiasm and the work ethic is still there.

“We’re still coming into training now and wanting to graft and work hard to put the icing on the cake for the season.”