SOCCER: ROBERTO MANCINI believes his Manchester City side proved an important point about their competitive spirit by beating Arsenal to reclaim top spot in the Premier League from rivals Manchester United. David Silva's 52nd-minute winner means City are now unbeaten at home for a year and will lead the way at Christmas for the first time since 1929 if they beat Stoke City at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday.
Manchester United’s 2-0 win at Queens Park Rangers earlier in the day had briefly put them top, and Mancini praised his team for their response. “For our character, this was a big test and we showed we are a strong team,” he said. “It was very important for us after the Chelsea game. In football every team loses eventually and it is the reaction to losing that separates good teams from others. We wanted to go back to the top but we also know that the season is long, and we can’t win the title without having a fight with United.
“We know, too, there might be times when we are second but the important thing is where we finish and we have not lost any of our belief or confidence. We want to stay top for a long time now, not only for Christmas.”
Prior to the game there had been yet another rumour about the colourful off-field life of striker Mario Balotelli – this time claiming he was out in Manchester last night dressed as Father Christmas, handing out money to passers-by. Mancini said: “I don’t know – with Mario it is possible! We should ask him. It could be, I don’t know. But he was in the hotel and it was forbidden to bring fireworks!”
United’s brief excursion to the top had been the first time since October 15th that City had dropped below their neighbours.
“The important thing is to be there on New Year’s Day,” Alex Ferguson, the United manager, said after goals from Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick had helped the champions to a sixth win in seven league games. “If you’re involved right at the top part then you know the second half of the season – we’ll relish that.”
For Arsene Wenger, though, there was an acceptance that his team are now out of the title race.
“It was a game we couldn’t afford to lose,” Arsenal’s manager said. “If we had won, the gap would have come down to six points and we would have players coming back from injury for the second half of the season.”
Asked if that meant he was ruling out any chance of emulating their 12-point deficit to overtake United and win the title in 1998, he said: “At the moment, yes. It will be difficult to close the gap but we will keep trying. This is a game we couldn’t afford to lose and that’s why it’s difficult to take. But we will continue to fight and there are a lot of positives. The team has made a lot of progress since August. Let’s hope we can continue our progress and get closer to City.”
Wenger felt his team were “unlucky” after a Robin van Persie goal was disallowed because of a contentious offside decision, and they could also have had a penalty for Micah Richards’s handball.
“I haven’t seen it but Van Persie is adamant,” Wenger said. “He says it was a 100 per cent penalty. It was a game where it could have gone both ways. It was very intense with both teams going for it. I felt we were a bit unlucky and their ’keeper had a good game. We were unlucky as we had to reshuffle at the back in a position where we are already short.”
Mancini argued it was a fair result. “I think we deserved to win,” he said. “It was a good performance and for Arsenal, 12 points behind us, 10 behind United, seven behind Spurs, it is difficult for them now.”
Guardian Service
