• Premier League

Chelsea-Manchester City in January is title decider - Nasri

Samir Nasri believes Manchester City's January trip to Chelsea will be "like a final" and will decide the Premier League title.

City are the defending champions but Chelsea, who are the only unbeaten team in the division, have established a six-point lead at the top of the table. However, Nasri hopes they can close that before they meet again.

Jose Mourinho's team drew 1-1 at the Etihad Stadium in September and Manuel Pellegrini's team visit Stamford Bridge on January 31 for the rematch, which Nasri feels could be crucial.

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"By New Year's Day we want to be closer to Chelsea - the game at Stamford Bridge in January will be like a final," Nasri said.

"Teams like Southampton are still there, [Manchester] United are coming back so it will be open for a while yet."

City, who have won their last three games in all competitions, visit Sunderland, where they have lost 1-0 in each of the last four seasons, on Wednesday.

Nasri added: "We have not had good experiences against them. It's always difficult there. We know which sort of game they will play against us - they will be compact and make it hard for us. After this amazing week, the confidence is really high and we need to carry on."

City have the Premier League's top scorer in Sergio Aguero, who has scored 12 times in the division and a further five in the Champions League.

"At the moment up front we have someone who is flying and he can help us unlock any defence in the world. So we have to capitalise on that and hope he can make a difference," Nasri said.

"I said after [last week's 3-2 win over] Bayern Munich there's only one player in the world better than him and that's Ronaldo. It's something I'm really convinced about and not just because he's my team-mate. At the moment he's at the same level as Messi and players like that."

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