"I was impressed with City against Chelsea last week. Even though David James had to make a terrific save late on, that was the only time Chelsea really threatened. City looked very comfortable in defence and that is clearly an area where they are a lot more secure this season. The figures show their defence is in the top six in the country, so we will not find it easy to break them down. And like a lot of other clubs this season, they seem to be performing better against the top teams than against the ones below them in. It makes this game even more difficult to predict — and derby matches are like that anyway."
"They can be great or horrible, there’s rarely anything in between. I’d settle for horrible and three points. We have been in excellent form and need to maintain that in case Chelsea slip up and offer us a glimmer of hope. You have to say they can only throw it away because they still have a nine point lead, despite only drawing with City. But it is definitely the case they are not playing as well as they were earlier in the season. And now they have lost Arjen Robben for a couple of months that could affect them quite badly. Every game from now on will be tough for both of us because the opposition will be fighting even harder for something, whether it is Europe or to avoid relegation."