Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini believes his side’s success this season depends on how they perform over a crucial upcoming two months.
Immediately of concern for the Italian coach will be the consecutive fixtures against top-four contenders Chelsea and Arsenal in the league, with his side travelling to Stamford Bridge on Monday.
Mancini, who has put together a side with formidable goalscoring ability, played down City’s achievements this campaign so far, and instead looked towards their upcoming fixtures.
“We have done well but the season is long,” the Blues boss told reporters on Friday.
“Now we have two difficult games against Chelsea and Arsenal. I have said before, the next two months will be important months.”
The Blues remain in the hunt for four trophies going into next year, including the Premier League and now the Europa League, with an FA Cup third round tie against rivals Manchester United next month as well as the League Cup semi-final against Liverpool.
However, one influential player they will have to cope without at the start of 2012 will be Yaya Toure, who will be away with the Ivory Coast national team for the African Cup of Nations.
The City manager confessed: “Yaya is an important player for us – we don’t have any other players like Yaya.
“We will probably lose an important man for one month at a crucial moment.
“For this reason I think if we do well in January, and we are top after January, it will be difficult to lose.
“Yaya will finish the African Nations Cup by February 10-11 and then he can come back,” Mancini added.
“It is important in that month that we don’t have players injured. If we don’t have players injured I think we are strong enough for the FA Cup and Carling Cup.”