Manchester City’s Samir Nasri says Chelsea are ‘not special

Samir Nasri has described Chelsea as “not special at all” and believes Manchester City can overturn the seven-point lead at the top of the Premier League, claiming their title rivals will slip up sooner or later.


Nasri, who scored City’s fourth goal in the 4-1 win at Stoke City on Wednesday, said he was not impressed with José Mourinho’s side during both games between the two teams this season. They drew 1-1 at Stamford Bridge last month and by the same score at the Etihad last September, when Pablo Zabaleta was sent off.

City, despite the win at Stoke, have lost ground at the top in recent weeks. Manuel Pellegrini’s side drew at home to Hull last weekend, having previously lost to Arsenal and drawn at Everton, as well as losing in the FA Cup to Middlesbrough. Nasri, however, is confident Chelsea will drop points and that City can take advantage.

“I’m a big fan of Mourinho but I am not impressed with his team, not at all,” Nasri said. “We have played them twice, one time with 10 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.

“For me they are not special at all, and I think they are going to make some mistakes. 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 10 games before the end of the season.

“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.

“If we reach 90 points we will be champions of England. If we win all of our games, it will put pressure on Chelsea. Sometimes we lack consistency but we are improving and next week we will have Yaya [Touré] and [Wilfried] Bony back and are really confident about the future.”

Sergio Agüero, who scored twice at Stoke, was withdrawn in the 73rd minute with a back complaint. However, Pellegrini expects the striker to be available for next week’s match against Newcastle, and Agüero tweeted: “For the ones asking I’m OK. I stepped out only for precaution. Now let’s keep on working for the very important upcoming commitments.”




James Riach, Guardian