Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne has fired a title warning at rivals Liverpool, claiming that history will repeat itself.

The Citizens were as many as 10 points behind Liverpool on December 29 last season, but roared back to seal a second consecutive league title on the final day of the season in May.

Ahead of City's Champions League trip to Shakhtar Donetsk, the Belgian said: "We can still win with the same points at the end of this season. You don't need to win by 15 points as it is the Premier League. It happened once.

"It is so tough and you want to finish first – it does not matter how you do it. Last season, we were seven points behind. It happens. Of course we want to win every game but it is difficult.

"Nobody was shouting or angry with each other. Everyone makes mistakes. It gets magnified when you lose but you make mistakes when you win. People are down but you pick them up as a team and then we go to Wednesday as Shakhtar is important. You take the defeat, you learn from your mistakes and go to the next one."

City will go into next week's Premier League clash with Watford already five points behind early leaders Liverpool.