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Dedryck Boyata is keen to reassure Blues fans that City WILL be aiming to land the Barclays Premier League title.

The teenage defender stepped in at right-back to make a big contribution to the 1-0 weekend victory that inflicted a first League defeat of the season on runaway leaders Chelsea.

Just as importantly, City's win cut the defending champions' lead in the table to just four points only hours after Roberto Mancini identified in-form Chelsea as "probable" title winners next May.

Despite the manager's candid assessment of the resources fellow Italian Carlo Ancelotti enjoys, Dedryck has no doubt about the mood at the club when it comes to pursuing a title challenge this winter.

Boyata said: "The target is to win the title and and get into the Champions League. For that we have to stay focused. Last year we got some great results against the big teams. Now we need to do it against the other teams.

"We've not spoken about the manager's comments. He said it because he could see the way Chelsea have played from the beginning of the season. I understand what he said. But he's thinking about winning the title too."

Boyata is still a teenager but has shown no sign of nerves in high-pressure fixtures such as Saturday's and the Carling Cup semi-final derby into which trusting Mancini plunged him last season.

He said: "There is a bit of fear at first, but then you realise it is a chance to show what you can do against the best players. You have to think about what they can do, then come up with a solution to stop them.

"But I get a lot of advice from Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure. I see them every day in training and they are like big brothers to me. They always give me help and are a great part of my life.

"And the manager has improved my game a lot with the kind of work we do with team shape. We are working hard on defending in training all the time. Hopefully we'll see the same outcome in all the games!"

Slim wrote:Of course we are, was anyone in any doubt?

brite blu sky wrote:

Slim wrote:Of course we are, was anyone in any doubt?

Seem to remember a few " well we can forget the title now " comments a few weeks back.. so yeah i think perhaps there were a few doubts... some were even questioning 4th as a realistic aim.

Strangely they seem to have disappeared at the mo!

Slim wrote:

brite blu sky wrote:

Slim wrote:Of course we are, was anyone in any doubt?

Seem to remember a few " well we can forget the title now " comments a few weeks back.. so yeah i think perhaps there were a few doubts... some were even questioning 4th as a realistic aim.

Strangely they seem to have disappeared at the mo!

We have to click as a unit and it hasn't happened yet, when we do we'll be seeing something special and I fully expect a tilt at the title. Chelsea are still favourites as they should be, but if we aren't in the mix come April I would be surprised. (And I think Mancini will be out of job)

John Terry believes Manchester City are genuine contenders for the Premier League title, although he said the expectation at Chelsea, from the owner Roman Abramovich down, is that the club will win the season's major trophies.

Chelsea saw their perfect start to the league campaign derailed at Eastlands last Saturday, when Carlos Tevez's goal gave City a 1-0 victory. The result not only highlighted that the defending champions were mortal and beatable but it showed that City had the ability to walk tall against the very best.

Terry continues to radiate confidence, though, and after last night's 2-0 Champions League win over Marseille that calmed Chelsea's mini-wobble – they had gone out of the Carling Cup against Newcastle United the previous Wednesday – the captain suggested his team were set fair for Sunday's Stamford Bridge showdown against Arsenal.

"The way that City played against us, they are definitely title contenders," Terry said. "They have certainly got the players to do so and any big side going there is going to find it difficult because they always raise their game. It's against the smaller sides that they have found it difficult.

"Saturday's defeat was one of those things for us. I've seen quite a bit of City and they have not looked great, if I'm honest. But they were excellent against us, it was their best game of the season. They are going to get encouragement from that, from beating the in-form side in the league."

Abramovich oversaw a paring back of his playing staff over the summer, with 10 players moving away, including the established stars Ricardo Carvalho, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole, Deco and Juliano Belletti, and only Yossi Benayoun and Ramires arriving. Terry has made it clear that he feels it was a blow to lose Cole. Yet despite the cuts, the demands have not changed.

"The message is clear from the owner at the start of the season, he wants to win everything," Terry said. "And with the squad we have, he expects to. The Premier League is the biggest test because, along with Spain, we've got the best league in the world. You take a lot of credit from that. But at the same time, the Champions League is a trophy we haven't won and one that we want to win. We also have a manager [Carlo Ancelotti] who has the experience of having won it.

"Arsenal went close to winning the Champions League when they lost in the final to Barcelona and we've had a taste of the final so the experience is there among the London clubs. Hopefully, if it comes round again, we will have that experience to go on."

Terry scored the opening goal against Marseille and Nicolas Anelka added the second before the half-hour, leading Chelsea, in Terry's words, "to take our foot off the gas with Sunday in mind".

"That was a nice luxury," he added. "It was good to get back to winning ways and, hopefully, we can continue that against Arsenal It was important that we had a Champions League game on Tuesday and that we didn't get a whole week to think about the City defeat. Now for Sunday, there isn't really a lot of training. It's the rest and recovery that's important."