The Blues boss signed Emmanuel Adebayor, Carlos Tevez and Roque Santa Cruz in the summer with Robinho and Craig Bellamy already on board for a strike force to rival the best.
Now, combined with a new mental toughness that permeates the whole team, Hughes reckons his Carling Cup quarter-finalists are perfectly equipped to be genuine winners this season.
As City prepared for Sunday’s Premier League match at promoted Birmingham, the manager said: “With the quality of players we’ve got, we are always likely to score goals so we are always confident of going up against anybody.
“It’s always difficult going to St Andrews but the way we are playing, we fancy ourselves against anybody. At home you expect Birmingham to be a big test but we go into games expecting to win, we don’t just hope.”
The Blues’ last two away games at Aston Villa and Wigan have produced determined performances and priceless points from matches that might easily have been lost last season, he added.
“Our resilience is the big difference away from home this year. We are going to need those qualities over a long hard season, because we are going to go to places where we are not in the ascendancy and we’ll have to see games out.”
City were able to rest players such as Bellamy for the 5-1 midweek win over Scunthorpe and Hughes was also able to take workaholic Gareth Barry off early with his work well done.
Hughes said: “We’ll be fresh and ready. The cup game was good for competition - a lot of guys are trying to get into the team, and it keeps them all on their toes. We’re in good shape at the moment.”
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