The Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said that he is extremely wary of a threat posed by Chelsea in the title race, despite the team struggling with a number of bad results in recent weeks. This has prompted to change the manager Roberto di Matteo, who has been replaced by Rafael Benitez. Despite the arrival of the former Liverpool man, the club has been unable to get back to winning ways after they have suffered draws against Manchester City and Fulham in the last two matches. The Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson recently suggested that it was a two horse title race between the two Manchester clubs.
However, Mancini believes that Chelsea should not be discounted from this title race because they have players who can make the difference. It has been six matches without a win in the league for Chelsea. They will be facing yet another London derby in the weekend against West Ham. Due to the fact that there are still 24 matches remaining in the league, it is very wrong to discount Chelsea as not a proposition in the title race. Mancini has pointed out to the number of points City made up for United in the last six matches of the season.
“I think Chelsea could be in it. We have another 24 games. It is too long to say. Last year in [the last] six games we recovered eight points. Teams like Tottenham and Arsenal can recover these points in the next 24 games but it is difficult to say this now. Everton started the season very well. They can finish in the Europa League but also they have the quality to finish fourth,” said Mancini ahead of the match with Everton, who were the last team to win at the Etihad stadium.