Emmanuel Adebayor backs Manchester City to win Premier League

Mike Perez,Pa
Friday 28 January 2011 12:16 GMT
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Emmanuel Adebayor believes Manchester City can go all the way in their pursuit of the Barclays Premier League title this season.

Speaking at his presentation with Real Madrid, who Adebayor has joined on loan from City until the end of the season, the former Togo captain feels that Roberto Mancini's men have a "big chance" to win the title.

Big-spending City, who last won the league back in 1968, are currently third in the standings, six points behind leaders Manchester United while they have also played a game more than their local rivals.

When asked if City can win the league, the 26-year-old said: "Of course, why not?

"I think Manchester City have a big chance to win the league this season, with all the players that they've bought, Mario Balotelli, Edin Dzeko, they've got a big squad...

"And at the minute they are playing good football, so they have a chance to win it. It's not going to be easy, don't get me wrong, but I think they will do everything to achieve that because it's a dream of the club."

Adebayor also spoke about his new club's chances of finishing the Spanish Primera Division season as champions.

Madrid are four points behind two-time reigning champions Barcelona at the top of the table, although that is essentially a five-point gap as Jose Mourinho's men lost 5-0 at the Nou Camp and would need something special in the return meeting at the Bernabeu to gain the better head-to-head record.

Adebayor said: "Here in Spain, Madrid are only four points behind Barcelona and I think everyone will agree with me that Barcelona are playing fantastic football at the moment, but in football you just have to keep winning games, and then we have to beat them at home and wait for them to lose points to get ahead of them.

"It's not going to be easy but at the end of the day we have to try and give everything until the end of the season, and we'll see how it goes."

Madrid swooped for Adebayor after recently losing Gonzalo Higuain, their top scorer for the last two league campaigns, to a back injury that could keep the Argentina international sidelined for up to four months.

That left coach Mourinho with just Karim Benzema as his only recognised centre-forward, and the Frenchman has found himself under pressure following a disappointing time with the Spanish giants since his big-money move from Lyon in 2009.

The competition for playing time between Adebayor and Benzema - who has scored the winning goal in Madrid's last two matches against Real Mallorca and Sevilla - was a hot topic during yesterday's presentation, but Adebayor was full of praise for his fellow forward and insists he can play alongside the France international.

"I had a chance to know Karim in France when he played for Lyon and for me he's a fantastic player with a good attitude and I know him very well off the pitch as well. And for me I think he's doing quite well at the minute, he's lost a bit of confidence but he'll be back and as we can see he scored a great goal yesterday (against Sevilla)

"I'm not here to replace anybody. I'm just here to play my football and enjoy myself. I can play with Benzema, I can play with Higuain in the future if he comes back.

"I'm not here to kick him (Benzema) out, we are both here to win and we know that Real Madrid is a wonderful club that needs those victories.

"We are strikers and we are playing to do our best for the team and we want to win all the prizes that this club deserves."

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