Title race ‘not over’ – Kevin De Bruyne urges Man City to maintain intensity

Kevin De Bruyne has insisted the title race is not over and is determined to make sure Manchester City maintain their intensity.

Premier League leaders City dropped points for the first time since October on Saturday as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Southampton.

The result ended the champions’ run of 12 successive victories and allowed second-placed Liverpool, who have game in hand and a trip to the Etihad Stadium to come, to cut their advantage to nine points.

De Bruyne told City TV: “Obviously the schedule in December is a lot of games following each and we managed to win them all, so obviously we are in a good run.

“We have a little bit of a gap but we want to try and maintain that. Sometimes when you win a lot of games that is the moment where you slow down a little bit, but we’re trying to to keep that level up and keep the intensity up as much as we can.

“We have been able to do that quite a few times over the years. We know it’s not over because we’ve done it in the past – been behind that many points and turned it around. It (the lead) can go quickly but hopefully it doesn’t, obviously.”

De Bruyne has been in fine form of late, the highlight being his stunning winner against another title rival in Chelsea earlier this month.

The Belgium playmaker also set up Aymeric Laporte’s equaliser at Southampton and went close to scoring another winner that game when he hit the post.

It marked a turnaround from the first half of the campaign when he was hampered by injuries and had a spell out with coronavirus.

The 30-year-old said: “I’m happy I’m playing pain-free. Obviously the summer wasn’t the best for me in that aspect.

“I think after October I felt OK. Obviously I had that period with Covid but now, it’s really good. I’ve been playing well, the team has been playing well.”