Joe Hart expects a titanic tussle for the title with Chelsea and believes Jose Mourinho and his side will not have been surprised by the way Manchester City surged back into contention.
The defending champions were nine points behind Mourinho's league leaders on Nov. 29, but drew level with them by beating Crystal Palace 3-0 on Saturday.
City go into the Christmas and New Year fixtures with easier games on paper than Chelsea. Manuel Pellegrini's club have won eight consecutive games in all competitions.
Hart is looking forward to an epic battle to win the Premier League, saying: "I hope so. That will mean we'll have had a good season if we're toe to toe with them because they have started fantastically and for us to be in the position we are is down to winning eight on the spin.
"Chelsea are a strong team, they've got a strong manager and will do what they need to do. But I think they appreciate and totally expect us to push them. I don't think it's any surprise we're on their tails and we're not surprised that they're doing so well."
Chelsea, during Mourinho's first spell in charge, and Manchester United are the only teams to retain the title during the Premier League era.
After City were champions in 2012, they finished 11 points behind United the following season and Hart is eager to avoid a repeat of that disappointing defence of their crown.
The England international added: "I take my hat off to anyone who has retained a title because it's difficult. We failed last time and we don't want to do it again. We're all aware of what happened last time.
"I've not had much experience of it, but the little bit that I've had, it's just hard to win the league. Winning the thing in the first place is really hard, you've got to be consistent, you've got to get through bad patches and you have to bounce back. We have to prove we've got everything we need."
Hart feels City have prevailed at key moments in their current winning run, saying, "I think we've turned it around in the right situations. We've won ugly. Leicester last week, after a really, really tough one [against Roma], to go to Leicester and battle out a 1-0 was just as big as beating Roma."