Kevin De Bruyne: Manchester City, United are title favourites 'but everybody's still there'

Kevin De Bruyne believes the two Manchester clubs are the favourites to battle it out for the Premier League title this season.

Manchester City have started the season extremely well, having won seven out of eight league games with one draw, scoring an impressive 29 goals in the process, as they sit atop the table with 22 points. Meanwhile, Manchester United have six wins and two draws in their opening eight league games as they sit in second place with 20 points and 21 goals scored.

De Bruyne has been a huge reason for City's success this season, with two goals and seven assists in 11 games in all competitions so far, most recently providing an assist in the club's 2-1 win over Napoli in the Champions League.

However, while the Belgian international believes the two rivals will fight for the title, he refused to rule out other teams due to the competitiveness of the Premier League.

"For the moment, I think so [the title race is between the Manchester clubs], but everybody's still there," De Bruyne told ESPN.

"It's so early, if you lose two or three games, you go back to a [lower] position. We have to maintain this hopefully."

The 26-year-old also attributed City's success this season to the fact that they are playing good football as well as obtaining the big-game results to go along with them, as highlighted by their 1-0 win at Chelsea where De Bruyne scored the winner.

"Just that we are winning," De Bruyne explained when asked what the difference between last season's City side and the current one were. "I think last year we played good football but, especially in the big games, we didn't win them.

"Especially at the moment, we are playing maybe a little bit better, but we're just building on what we did last year and, for the moment, everything is going well. But we'll put hard work into it and we have to keep going."

The Citizens host Burnley on Saturday (21 October) at the Etihad Stadium next as Pep Guardiola's side looks to consolidate its place at the top of the table.