Burnley boss Vincent Kompany admits the standard of Premier League has risen since he left four years ago.
The former Manchester City captain's Burnley host Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Kompany said, "Every game you have to have a frame of mind where you believe you are going to produce a performance to get a result.
"Sometimes a quick turnaround is not such a bad thing. Since yesterday, it has been a full focus on Crystal Palace.
"Since I left the league as a player four years ago, I think the bar has been raised.
"The teams we would be competing with at the moment, If we're serious about staying up, would be Nottingham Forest and maybe Bournemouth because they are the teams next up from us in the league.
"If you look at the investment that the teams at the bottom are putting in, that wouldn't have been the case when I was playing in the league.
"It's great for the level of the league but it means your first year in the Premier League is probably tougher. It means it won't be easy but if you get over that hurdle you can put distance between yourselves and the teams coming up."
On last season's promotion, he also said: "Nothing was comfortable about last season, we had so many games crammed in and 20 new players coming in. It wasn't comfortable, but it was nice.
"This season, I think it would be of equal order [as getting promoted last season] because it's a necessary step for the club in terms of growing in this league.
"Staying up is not just a way of saying 'this is what you will be doing for 10 years', but it's about growing. This year is by far the hardest."