Pep Guardiola says scintillating Manchester City will suffer a slump at some point — but is sure they won't crumble like last season.
City have been in devastating form so far and remain unbeaten in all competitions.
They head into Saturday's clash with Burnley at the Eithad on the back of a 7-2 league victory over Stoke last weekend and a 2-1 midweek defeat of Serie A leaders Napoli in the Champions League.
Guardiola labelled the former display as “the best performance” of his tenure, and the latter as “perfect.”
City also flew out of the blocks last season as they chalked up 10 wins on the bounce — before their form nosedived.
In their next six games they drew three and lost three and were never quite able to recapture their brilliant early-season form.
However, Guardiola is confident his Premier League table-toppers will react better to any setbacks this time round.
“That blip is going to happen,” Guardiola said.
“We are in October, we cannot expect to finish the season like we have done in the last month when we won all the games.
“It’s impossible in football at the highest level, but I want to see how we are going to react when we drop points. Then we will see how strong we are.
“When everything is going well, when you are winning 3-0 or 4-0, it doesn’t count for much.
“It’s how you do in the bad moments that is important. That is why I’m optimistic because the way we reacted at 3-2 against Stoke was so good.”
Guardiola hailed the “warrior” qualities of centre-back Nicolas Otamendi as a key factor behind his side’s superb start.
The Argentinian defender made a shaky start to his City career after a £28.5million switch from Valencia in August 2015 but has started to justify his price-tag.
“He has a warrior mentality,” Guardiola added. “I have not met many players with a stronger mentality. If he loses a game he says ‘Give me the ball again and let’s play’ – and I give a lot of value to that kind of thing.”