Manchester City defender Micah Richards is confident that Mark Hughes' men will force their way up the table after an indifferent start to their campaign.
The takeover of the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group elevated expectations at the City of Manchester Stadium, with big-money buys such as £32.4million signing Robinho expected to see them challenge for a top-four spot.
However, impressive performances, such as the side's 3-0 away win against Sunderland and the 6-0 demolition of Portsmouth, have been matched by 2-1 and 4-2 losses to Wigan Athletic and Aston Villa respectively, and City currently lie in 11th place.
They have, though, shown glimpses of the kind of form which would suggest they could battle for a UEFA Champions League place, with City going close to securing an impressive victory against Liverpool in their last fixture, and England international Richards feels the side will develop a level of consistency as the new arrivals settle in.
"We've started off solid enough, but obviously we'd have wanted to secure a few more points than we have," Richards told skysports.com.
"The loss to Liverpool was disappointing as we should have won the game, but we deserved at least a point and we showed what we're capable of.
"Players like Robinho, Jo and Vincent (Kompany) are still adapting to English football, and even though they've already put in some really impressive performances, I'm sure we'll improve our team when we all fully gel.
"Who knows; maybe we will challenge for the top-four, but we are prepared to work hard and focus on our own game."
A series of impressive performances alongside Richard Dunne in the heart of City's defence have led to questions as to why the 20-year-old has been excluded from Fabio Capello's recent England squads, and while the youngster admits he feels his form is worthy of a place, he is fully prepared to focus on the domestic campaign in his bid to impress the Italian manager.
"I've been fairly happy with my performances so far this season, though obviously you can always improve," he added.
"It's great when you're involved with your national team - one of the biggest achievements in a footballer's career - but there's only one thing to do to try to impress the manager and that's perform as well as I can for City."
Micah Richards was talking to Sky Sports at the launch of his official website, www.micahrichards.com.
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