Roberto Mancini insists his Manchester City charges will regain their Premier League title next season after their Old Trafford derby success.
The win moved City within 12 points of league leaders Manchester United and Mancini insisted the result showed the two sides are not far apart.
However, the Italian also conceded this year’s title race is still over and Sir Alex Ferguson’s side deserve to reclaim the Premier League trophy.
“We know that we can win the title next year,” Mancini said. “This year we made some mistakes, but we can do nothing now. The season is gone.
“United have won a lot of games. They lost the last time, against Norwich, a long time ago and they deserve to win this title.”
The derby victory was City’s second at Old Trafford in as many seasons, following last year’s historic 6-1 win.
It also avenged the Red Devils’ last-gasp triumph at the Etihad Stadium earlier in the season, which Mancini believes was a very unlucky result for his side.
And the 48-year-old was delighted to see his side demonstrate to United that they won’t be brushed aside so easily next time around.
“We deserved to win this game because we played better. We played good football and we didn’t take any risks,” Mancini added.
“We showed that we can’t be 15 points behind again.”
Unfortunately for Mancini, there was one negative result from Old Trafford – David Silva picked up a knock and could miss Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea.
The playmaker was forced off towards the end of the match with a hamstring problem and will have a scan today.
He tweeted last night: “Good victory tonight, great team performance, I will know tomorrow how bad the injury is, I hope it is not a bad one.”
Image courtesy of BBC, via You Tube, with thanks.
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