Mancini focused on Villa trip
February 07, 2012 10:34:56 UK
Roberto Mancini appears to have learned his lesson the hard way, and already has his players fully primed for Sunday's trip to Aston Villa.
It is a game Manchester City are 8.00 to win 2-1 while Alex McLeish's team are available at 13.00 to secure a 1-0 victory with Emile Heskey 9.50 to open the scoring.
Mancini shocked many observers with his admission that he did not take Everton seriously enough in the wake of their 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park last week.
There were suggestions that the Italian was simply attempting to take some pressure off his table-toppers, as they duly bounced back to winning ways with a 3-0 win over Fulham over the weekend.
If we have the same attitude that we had against Fulham we will do well.
Roberto Mancini
City, 1.10 to win the Premier League title this season, now appear to have a kinder set of fixtures over the coming weeks, as title pursuers Manchester United face the likes of Liverpool on Saturday, and Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane before the month is out.
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However, Mancini refuses to believe the Premier League will afford him or his team anything less than the sternest of tests, regardless of how things might currently appear on paper.
He insists: "It is important to be at the top at the moment. We have been there five months, but we know it is only really important at the end of the season.
"We will have a difficult game in Birmingham but if we have the same attitude that we had against Fulham we will do well. I think all the remaining games are difficult.
"You are playing against top squads. Some of them are at the bottom and are fighting relegation, so for this reason there are no easy games for us."
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