Pellegrini says Manchester City have the strongest Premier League squad

Pellegrini inherited a group of big-name players when he succeeded Roberto Mancini as Manchester City boss earlier this summer.

The Chilean has added further options with the signings of Fernandinho, Jesus Navas, Alvaro Negredo and Stevan Jovetic for a combined cost of around £90m.

Manchester United and Chelsea have not spent so heavily, while Arsenal are yet to bring in a big-name recruit and Pellegrini is confident he is better prepared than other teams for the title race.

"I think we have the best squad in England," he said.

"We bought four important players, we already had a very good team and with these four players I think we improved a lot.

"We hope that from the first match against Newcastle at home we will start winning, and we will try to bring another trophy here."

Pablo Zabaleta received the club's player of the year award for 2012-13 at City's season launch party and the Argentinian shares Pellegrini's confidence ahead of the new campaign.

He said: "I can guarantee to everyone that we have been working really hard in pre-season and we are very hungry for more trophies, and we aim to win something this season.

"The atmosphere in the dressing room is great. We wish the new manager and all his staff the very best of luck for the future."