Manchester City will finish higher up the Premier League table this season, according to striker Emmanuel Adebayor.
Adebayor scored 14 goals as big-spending City finished a best-ever fifth last season.
Manager Roberto Mancini has since spent around £60million to bring the likes of World Cup trio David Silva, Jerome Boateng and Yaya Toure to Eastlands.
Adebayor, himself a £20million arrival from Arsenal last summer, is confident that City will now finish higher up the final table this season.
Referring to the opening day encounter with Spurs, Adebayor told the club’s official website:“It is a difficult start to the season, but it is good for us in the sense that we can send a message out.
“The start to the season is very important in many ways. If we go to Tottenham and get a good result and then do the same against Liverpool it will be great for the confidence and show the guys that we are title contenders.
“If we are going to win the title we should not be concerned about how the fixtures fall.
“Fifth place last season was okay, but we want to do better than that this time and we are looking for the top three.”
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