Last season, City’s 86 points was enough to be crowned champions, with Manchester United 12 points behind and Liverpool 17 points adrift.
However, the previous three seasons saw the eventual champions post much higher figures.
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City became the first side to manage 100 points in 2017-18, before following up with 98 just 12 months later, and Liverpool earned 99 points in 2019-20.
But with 35 points from 15 league matches so far this season, the City boss believes the competition from rivals like Liverpool and Chelsea means the bar will be set high once again.
“Yeah, the champions will need to win a lot of games for sure, maybe 90 (points) or over,” said Pep.
“Last year there was COVID and we were without people. It was a tough, tough year for all the clubs and sometimes the consequences was to drop some points.
“But we won the league quite comfortably in the end.
“I said last week, on the runs we have done (in past seasons), I have never thought about what we should need when we started.
“We won the last games in the Premier League, but the only important thing is ‘what’s next?’ It’s Wolves, close to the top right now, so this one and after, Tuesday against Leeds.
“Don’t think about more than that. It is confusing to think about long runs.
“When you start to think about that you are going to drop points and lose games. Thinking about the next one is the most important thing.”
Asked if an arrogance or presumption of success within his team could ever be a danger at any stage he replied: “We don’t have that feeling. We behave completely the opposite.
“To sustain the titles that we have done in the last years, you don’t do that. We are completely the opposite.”
Pep was also asked at his Friday press conference what could potentially scupper a fourth Premier League title in five seasons.
“Injuries, hopefully not, but we handle it. When one player is not available we use another one. No complaints about that, absolutely not,” he said.
“They have to recover as quickly as possible to come back to the team. Expectations always are higher when you achieve what we achieved.
“The standards are higher so expectations are higher. We have to work harder and be more conscious of what we have to do and everything we can improve.
“This is the only concern I have. The rest - opponents always exist and can always be better. It is not a problem. We just try to have the feeling we can improve.
“The players have to have that feeling. I have said for many years, doing the same we have done in previous seasons will not be enough.
“The only thing to improve is accepting you can improve and in the training sessions, work on your weakness sides and weakness points to get better.”
