{"id":16495,"date":"2011-12-19T06:00:01","date_gmt":"2011-12-19T06:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ghanamma.net\/2011\/12\/mancini-tells-city-to-prepare-for-united-battle\/"},"modified":"2011-12-19T06:00:01","modified_gmt":"2011-12-19T06:00:01","slug":"mancini-tells-city-to-prepare-for-united-battle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/19\/mancini-tells-city-to-prepare-for-united-battle\/","title":{"rendered":"Mancini tells City to prepare for United battle"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Arsenal were frustrated by a brilliant display from City goalkeeper Joe Hart<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Roberto Mancini has warned his Manchester City players they face a fight right until the end of the season from neighbours Manchester United for the Premier League title.<\/p>\n

United briefly replaced big-spending City at the top of the table after a 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers on Sunday before Mancini’s side returned to the summit following their 1-0 defeat of Arsenal later in the day.<\/p>\n

David Silva’s winner — City’s 50th Premier League goal of the season — restored his side’s two-point advantage at the top and left Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger declaring his team’s title chances had all but vanished.<\/p>\n

But ahead of a busy festive programme, Mancini has told his men to prepare for a battle to the end of the season with reigning English champions United.<\/p>\n

“We can’t think that we can win the title without a fight from United,” said Mancini. “It’s impossible.<\/p>\n

“We want to stay top for a long time — not only for Christmas,” City’s Italian manager added.<\/p>\n

City, who entertain Stoke on Wednesday, produced the perfect response against Arsenal after their unbeaten league start was ended by Chelsea last Monday.<\/p>\n

Pablo Zabaleta hit the woodwork but Silva’s fifth league goal ensured it was business as usual at Eastlands.<\/p>\n

“We are delighted because after losing to Chelsea it was really important to beat Arsenal,” said Mancini.<\/p>\n

“We deserved to win the game. We didn’t deserve to lose to Chelsea but that is football.”<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the win over the Gunners, Mancini said: “It was a great game, not for the managers, but for the supporters. We had a fantastic performance as Arsenal are playing very well at the moment.<\/p>\n

“When you play against Arsenal they have players like Gervinho, (Theo) Walcott and (Robin) van Persie who can score at any moment.<\/p>\n

“For our character this was a big test and we showed we are a strong team.”<\/p>\n

Arsenal were frustrated by a brilliant display from City goalkeeper Joe Hart. The England international produced a string of excellent saves to frustrate van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen and Walcott.<\/p>\n

Defeat left Arsenal 12 points adrift of City and Wenger conceded it would be tough for the Gunners to win the title from such a long way behind.<\/p>\n

“It will be difficult to close the gap on City now, but we will try,” said Wenger, who lost defender Johan Djourou to a groin injury which could sideline the player for three weeks.<\/p>\n

“This was a game we couldn’t afford to lose. It’s difficult to take but we will continue to fight.<\/p>\n

“Losing Johan didn’t help. We are short on the flanks and every injury at the back is detrimental to our performance,” the Frenchman added.<\/p>\n

“(Laurent) Koscielny, Djourou and Vermaelen did remarkably well but they are centre-backs.<\/p>\n

“But it is a good basis to build from. Both teams played played positively and that’s why the game was interesting. It was also intense physically.”<\/p>\n

\u00a92011 AFP<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal were frustrated by a brilliant display from City goalkeeper Joe Hart Roberto Mancini has warned his Manchester City players they face a fight right until the end of the season from neighbours Manchester United for the Premier League title. United briefly replaced big-spending City at the top of the table after a 2-0 win over Queens Park Rangers on Sunday before Mancini’s side returned to the summit following their 1-0 defeat of Arsenal later in the day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard"],"yoast_head":"\nMancini tells City to prepare for United battle - Ghanamma.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2011\/12\/19\/mancini-tells-city-to-prepare-for-united-battle\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Mancini tells City to prepare for United battle - Ghanamma.com\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Arsenal were frustrated by a brilliant display from City goalkeeper Joe Hart Roberto Mancini has warned his Manchester City players they face a fight right until the end of the season from neighbours Manchester United for the Premier League title. 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