Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini expects his side to be much closer to Premier League leaders Manchester United come the end of February.
The Citizens, 6.00 to retain their top-flight title, trail United by seven points going into the weekend action, but Mancini is hopeful that the Red Devils will be distracted by their upcoming Champions League clashes with Real Madrid.
The Italian, whose side play host to Liverpool on Sunday, told reporters: "When we arrive at the end of February, the gap will be very, very small.
"In every championship, never has one team won a title in January. We should fight until April. If they have seven, eight, nine points in April it could be difficult, but in this moment we have a big chance.
"Every team during the season has two or three weeks when they don't play well, when their performances go down and they don't score."
City, who are 1.90 to beat the Reds on Sunday and 3.00 to keep a clean sheet, will be hampered in the next couple of weeks by the absence of inspirational skipper Vincent Kompany.
The Belgium international centre-half is struggling with a calf problem, with Mancini adding: "An injury to the calf is a bad injury, you can have this for a long time.
"Vinny needs to work and have treatment, but I'm not worried about an operation."
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