Kevin De Bruyne thinks this is the toughest Premier League season in years

Kevin De Bruyne has explained why the Premier League is getting "tougher and tougher" after being asked about Manchester City's form.

The Citizens currently sit five points behind league leaders Arsenal in the title race but they have been in fine form of late, winning five of their last six games, including a crucial victory against Mikel Arteta's side in February.

Pep Guardiola, who conceded the title last month after a 1-0 defeat to Spurs, will be happy with City's performances in general as the Gunners prepare for a tricky run of fixtures in the coming weeks.

But some believe they have underperformed on the whole this season after winning four of the last five Premier League titles.

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Kevin de Bruyne, meanwhile, was recently asked about City's form in the league, and he claimed that this season is the toughest season in years.

Speaking ahead of the club's Champions League round of 16 clash against RB Leipzig, the Belgian midfielder said: "I think the league has changed a bit, the lower teams they are able to spend more money and buy more quality players.

"I feel like all 20 teams have so much quality and I think the level of difficulty of beating all these teams is getting tougher and tougher.

"We are second in the league, we are in three competitions, so I think if you are comparing to a lot of different years I don't feel too different."

You can watch De Bruyne's answer from his press conference in full below.

🗣️ "I think the league has changed a bit, the lower teams they are able to spend more money and buy more quality players."

Kevin De Bruyne feels the level of difficulty in the Premier League is getting tougher and tougher pic.twitter.com/yYPfkxvgc6

— Football Daily (@footballdaily) March 13, 2023

City boss Guardiola recently criticised De Bruyne for not doing the "simple things", despite leading the Premier League assists chart.

“It’s been a difficult season for all of us, me included, due to the World Cup and many things," he said.

"I’m not going to discover [how good] Kevin [is]. What I’d like – I spoke many times to him – is to go to the easy principles and do it well.

"He has an incredible ability to make an assist, to score goals and see passes like no one else.

“But I always have the belief that they will increase and get better when the simple things [are done]: like don’t lose the ball, the mobility, the incredible capacity to be active in the movement.

“The simple things: do it again better and better. When this is going to happen the rest will come along.”