Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini understands better than most the cliches about title races not being over until the final minute of the season and is therefore refusing to look at the Premier League table.

In case he has missed it, his side lies 12 points behind leader Manchester United after goals from Yaya Toure and Carlos Tevez gave it a 2-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday to keep alive its faint hopes of retaining its English crown.

Had it lost, the challenge of catching Alex Ferguson's men and stopping it winning a 20th league title could have been too much in Mancini's eyes.