Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini blames defeat to Chelsea on fatigue

EPL,Mario Balotelli,Roberto Mancini,Manchester City vs Bolton Wanderers(Getty Images)

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Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes that his team’s preparation and focus will be improved greatly in the run in to the end of the season now that they have been knocked out of the Europa League, and blamed fatigue for his side’s loss to Chelsea.

Mancini’s men lost third spot in the Premier League with Sunday’s defeat to Chelsea and the Italian feels that his team will be more focussed for their last eight league games without the distraction of European competition.

He told Sky Sports: “In this moment we are eight games from the end and it is very important for us to recover all the players who aren’t fit.”

“We can now train and prepare better for the last eight games of the season because we don’t have to play in the Europa League now.”

The game gave City the chance to extend their lead over Tottenham in fifth, who could only draw against West Ham United on Saturday, but Mancini seemed unperturbed by Spurs being four points behind them.

He added: “I think that after yesterday’s result Tottenham drawing, today was an important game for us because if we won this game or if we drew it would have been fantastic but now nothing has changed.”

Mancini appeared to blame fatigue for his club’s defeat to Chelsea.

“I think until 70 minutes it was normal that Chelsea had more ball possession but we conceded nothing but after we conceded the goal everything changed,” he said.

“We played two days ago, in the last 20 or 25 minutes we were so tired but we were ready to change when we conceded a goal.”