• Premier League

Mancini hoping for United slip-up

ESPN staff
March 31, 2012
It was a stressful afternoon for Roberto Mancini as Manchester City earned a point the hard way © PA Photos
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Roberto Mancini is hopeful Blackburn can do Manchester City a favour by stopping league leaders Manchester United taking all three points on offer at Ewood Park on Monday.

Mancini's side fought from 3-1 down to claim a vital 3-3 draw at home to Sunderland on Saturday, though in the process dropped two points to leave the destination of the title in United's control.

Should neighbours United win at struggling Rovers, City will be five points adrift with seven games remaining, and Mancini is optimistic that Rovers can cause another twist in the title run-in.

"They can do a draw on Monday, why not?" he told Sky Sports. "Are we still in the title race? I think so because eight games is enough to do two draws. It's normal. Until we have a point to win this league we will try until the end. I'm sure that we will do better [against Arsenal next week] than today."

Although his side staged an impressive late fightback to at least stay in the hunt, Mancini was far from happy with the performance given by his troops.

"It was a crazy game, a very emotional game. We didn't play well but we have a chance again. It was very important to play well but we didn't. We defended very badly. We made mistakes. I'm not happy with our performance.

"It was important in the end to score two goals and take one point. We have seven games left and we want to do everything [to win the title]."

When asked whether the nerves were getting to his team, Mancini said: "This is normal, we are human. To close your emotion inside of you is difficult [to control]. It is scary after one game like this but tomorrow it is finished."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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