London: Manchester City midfielder Samir Nasri has taken a swipe at title rivals Chelsea by claiming the Premier League leaders are nothing special.
Second placed City are in danger of surrendering the title they won last season after falling seven points behind Jose Mourinho’s team following a run of four leagues without a win.
However, Manuel Pellegrini’s side finally returned to form with a 4-1 win at Stoke on Wednesday and French star Nasri is convinced they can still overhaul Chelsea before the end of the season.
After drawing twice with Chelsea this term, Nasri sees no reason to fear the Blues, especially after their edgy 1-0 win over Everton on Wednesday.
“I’m a big fan of Mourinho, but I am not impressed with his team, not at all. We have played them twice, one time with 10 men, and we were better than them,” Nasri said.
“Then we played them at the Bridge, 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.”
City famously overturned large deficits to win both of their Premier League titles in 2012 and 2014 by narrow margins.
They have also recovered from eight points behind to pull level with Chelsea once this season, only to fall back again in the past month.
Nasri believes history shows that opportunities will arise and City, who have 13 games to play, have to be ready to pounce.
Nasri, who scored City’s fourth goal against Stoke on Wednesday, said: “We know that the two times we won the league, we were behind at this time of the year.
“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.”
