Man City's Samir Nasri dimisses Chelsea: We are better than them
22:30, 12 February 2015 By Anthony Jepson
Manchester City 's Samir Nasri has spiced up the title race by declaring: “Chelsea don’t impress me at all”.
The Blues blitzed their way back into form with a 4-1 mauling of Stoke on Wednesday night, but remain seven points behind the leaders, who needed a late goal to beat Everton.
But Nasri says that, with City now on their way back to their best, the title race is far from over – and that while their manager might be the Special One, his team are anything but.
“I’m a big fan of Mourinho, but I am not impressed with his team, not at all,” said Nasri, who capped a superb second-half display at the Britannia Stadium with a fine solo goal.
“We have played them twice, one time with ten men - and we were better than them. Then we played them at the Bridge - and we were better than them.
“When I have seen some of their games, I don’t think they are that fantastic – they are just strong, and have a good striker up front.”
The fine margins of the title race were laid bare on Wednesday, as City were streaking to victory at a ground where they had never won a Premier League match, but Chelsea were finding it tough to beat out-of-form Everton – and needed a lucky deflected goal to get the three points.
If Willian’s strike had skipped wide, the gap would be five points, and everyone would be talking about the race being back on.
Nasri feels there will be more moments like that over the course of the next three months, and that Chelsea’s fixture schedule may also be a factor.
“For me they are not special at all, and I think they are going to make some mistakes,” said the French ace. “We just have to perform, to win our games, and see what’s going to happen.
“This title will be like this until the end of the season. No-one will win the league ten games before the end of the season.”
City had been virtually written off after a run of three draws and two defeats in all competitions – their worst run since December 2008.
But with 13 games to go, and the Blues bouncing back into goalscoring form, Nasri is not concerned with football’s chattering classes.
Instead, he is drawing on the experiences of 2011-12 and of last season, when City were also written off – and confounded everyone, including their own fans, by storming back and snatching the title at the death.
Asked about the fact that City have been treated as no-hopers, Nasri said: “We let other people talk about that – we know that the two times we won the league, we were behind at this time of the year.
“Two months ago we were eight points behind Chelsea and came back and went level with them. Now we are seven points behind, but are not going to make big talk about it. We will just try to get as many points as possible and wait for the mistake.
“They won in the last minute against Everton, so maybe next time they will draw. We just have to win our games and see what will happen.
“The season is still long, they have the Champions League and the final of the Capital One Cup as well, so have a lot of games to play.”
Nasri also feels that the return of Yaya Toure, and introduction of Wilfried Bony will be a further boost to a team already buoyant after playing some scintillating stuff.
He typified that City re-birth, perhaps the highlight of the night being the intricate, dazzling passing between him and Silva, followed by his gorgeous clipped cross that was magnificently finished by James Milner’s header to give City the lead.
It was that kind of dash and creativity that has been sorely missing while Nasri was injured and Toure at the African Cup of Nations.
With those two back, Silva in form, Aguero back amongst the goals and Bony offering another option, Nasri feels anything can happen in the run-in.
“We have 42 points to fight for, and if we reach 90 points we will be champions of England,” he said. “If we win all of our games, it will put pressure on Chelsea.
“We have special players in this team, and now we have this experience. Big players are there for big games, important games and we are lucky to have them.
“Sometimes we lack consistency but we are improving and next week we will have Yaya and Bony back and are really confident about the future of the season.”
City now have ten days without a game before facing Newcastle and Barcelona in quick succession - but that is not to Nasri’s liking: “I am not a big fan of these breaks,” he said. “But I guess if we want a big performance against Barcelona we need to be fresh, so I don’t know what to think about the break.
Just wish he'd included a pop at Le Odious One, also.
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