Source: Daily_Mail
Santa Cruz confident Manchester City can challenge for the Premier League
Roque Santa Cruz is convinced Manchester City can do better than just gatecrashing the top four this season and has backed Mark Hughes' side for the Premier League title.
The Paraguayan made his debut in the 3-1 win over West Ham on Monday, City's fifth victory in six games.
Hughes has played down his chances of landing the top prize, despite a huge summer spending spree, but with City three points off the top with a game in hand, Santa Cruz is more optimistic.
'We're not only looking for that (winning the Premier League) to happen in the future,' he told the Daily Mirror. 'We're looking to do it now. It's happening already.
'The boss looks absolutely confident in every aspect of the job and he also makes you feel that you can always perform at your best, by doing what he tells you in training.
'And I think players believe that what the manager tells them will actually help them to perform at their best.
'We all came here to help the team get to the top and everybody has been doing a fantastic job.
'It's been frustrating for me, sitting on the sidelines, but it makes things easier when the team is playing great and you're seeing things are going in the right direction.'
The last trophy City lifted was the League Cup back in 1976, while their highest-ever Premier League finish was eighth in 2005, under Stuart Pearce.
