City won’t let Chelsea get away again, says Milner

James Milner believes Manchester City can open up a lead on Chelsea in the Premier League title race before the showdown at Stamford Bridge on 31 January.

Milner scored twice in Sunday’s 2-1 FA Cup home win over Sheffield Wednesday – an 11th win in 12 outings in all competitions for the champions.

City travel to Everton on Saturday then host Arsenal the following Sunday before the meeting with Chelsea in what could be a decisive period in the championship. City, who are level with Chelsea on 46 points at the top of the table, will not want their rivals to move ahead again. “Hopefully we’ll be looking to open up a little gap of our own,” Milner said. “You look at this run [in January] and people think it is tougher than the games we had over Christmas but there are form teams and out of form teams. Every game is difficult. You’ve got teams at the bottom who look and think, ‘we’re going to win that game’.

“Look at Burnley coming here [drawing 2-2] and how well they played. Sometimes it is easier to play against teams who are mid-table and pushing for Europe and are moving it around a lot more. Who knows what an easy game is? It is the Premier League. We have seen on Sunday as well a middle-of-the-table, pushing for play-offs Championship team and we have won in the last minute.

“We are on a good run, 12 unbeaten. That 10 wins in a row eluded us but it is a nice run to be on. It is big momentum to have to go into that game still on that run with confidence flying. We are going to get one or two bodies back in January as well, hopefully. That is definitely going to help and, although we are losing Yaya [Touré, to the Africa Cup of Nations], the likes of Edin [Dzeko] and Sergio [Agüero] are not too bad players to have coming back.”

Touré has now left to play for Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup but Milner believes Frank Lampard can fill the void left by the midfielder. “It is great to have Lamps here as well,” Milner said. “He is a big player. Yaya is a big miss for us because of what he has done at the club but we have to deal with that and carry on this run,” he said.

Agüero returned to training on Monday following a knee ligament injury. The striker, who has scored 19 goals in 23 appearances in all competitions for City this season, has not played since the start of December when he limped off against Saturday’s opponents Everton.

“I wanted you to know I’ve already started field work. Slowly but surely I’ll be back at the right moment,” Agüero said on Twitter. He is unlikely to feature at Goodison Park but could make his return the following weekend for Arsenal’s visit.

by Jamie Jackson / Guardian