BACARY SAGNA has warned his former club Arsenal that Manchester City will not bottle the title race.
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| Bacary Sagna has missed only one of Manchester City's 21 league games this season |
The France international believes the Gunners have let City off the hook after blowing the chance to go five points clear of them.
And he reckons City’s experience of coming from behind to win the title in 2012 and 2014 could prove a key advantage in what is shaping up to be the most open Premier League championship fight for years.
Defender Sagna said the mood in the City dressing room after their frustrating goal-less draw with Everton on Wednesday was transformed when news came through of Liverpool’s late leveller against Arsenal.
That ensured City remained only three points adrift of the Gunners and Leicester and Sagna reckons all that could change this weekend with City facing Crystal Palace at home 24 hours before the Gunners face a tricky trip to in-form Stoke.
“Yes, I'm happy [Arsenal dropped two points],” he said, “because this season we have the capacity to take the league, the capacity to start winning games again as we did in the first part of the season. We have the capacity to be champions.
“I don't want to have any regrets. We have to think about Crystal Palace now, we have to take the three points because it is a home game. Arsenal play away to Stoke - maybe they'll drop points and we can catch them back.
“I'd say this [the draw with Everton] is a good point now. If they [Arsenal] were five points ahead of us it'd be very difficult to catch them. But Liverpool managed to come back and at the end of the day we're still three points behind.”
Asked if Arsenal have the collective mentality to stay top after blowing leads in the past, he said: “I don't want to think about Arsenal. That time has gone and I'm only thinking about City.”
But he insists even though City are still involved in all four competitions, Manuel Pellegrini’s squad remain confident of overhauling his old club, just as they did when they came from behind to pip Manchester United in 2012 and Liverpool two years later.
With Arsenal and Leicester still to come to the Etihad, he added: “We're still confident. We have to show that we can compete in every single competition and that we're a strong team. We have a good chance to perform so let's do it.
“Recovery is key. We have the staff to recover quite quickly, we have players coming back from injury now which is a boost for the team so I'm very confident for the rest of the season.
“We didn't win but we didn't lose [against Everton]. When you can't win, then don't lose. It's disappointing because we had opportunity to take three points. We managed to create many chances and they had a great keeper.
“We need to give more because we only pushed in the second half. They didn't have many chances - maybe one in the first half. That's good because we had to get stronger defensively, but you need to score to be decisive.
“You have to give credit to Everton. They managed to get freedom in the middle of the park and gave us problems in the first part of the game. After that we were playing better, playing higher.”
Referee Roger East's controversial decision to deny City an added time penalty when Raheem Sterling was felled by John Stones ensured they failed to score at home for the first time in a year.
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