Roberto Mancini says team can win EPL title

Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini insists his team can still retain their English Premier League title despite falling nine points behind Manchester United.

City were held 2-2 by Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium, wasting the opportunity to reduce the deficit at the top of the table to seven points after United's 1-0 win at Fulham 24 hours earlier.

Ultimately, after goals from Liverpool's Daniel Sturridge and Steven Gerrard, City, who had led through Edin Dzeko, required a spectacular individual effort from Sergio Aguero 12 minutes from time to collect a point.

But despite the mounting odds, Mancini remained defiant, pointing to last season when City won the league so memorably by recovering an eight-point disadvantage over the final six games.

"The championship is not over, absolutely not, because of last season and also two years ago," Mancini said. "Chelsea were nine points behind and they were only two points behind when they went to United in the final week.

"I don't think it is finished. There is room for mistakes. I think we probably need to win all of our games, but that can happen sometimes. I'm disappointed because we didn't play well. Liverpool played better first half. Today we were so nervous, I don't know why.

"I think that, like last year, we recovered eight points in six games. The season is long, three months to go, and United have to play the FA Cup and Champions League. We are confident."