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Roberto Mancini hopes cup victory can reignite Manchester City's Premier League hopes

FA Cup win over Leeds 'important' after humbling at Southampton

James Legge
Monday 18 February 2013 11:05 GMT
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Roberto Mancini says City's FA Cup win over Leeds was 'important' after humbling at Southampton
Roberto Mancini says City's FA Cup win over Leeds was 'important' after humbling at Southampton

Roberto Mancini hopes his Manchester City side's FA Cup win over Leeds on Sunday can spark a late-season revival.

City battered Leeds 4-0, with goals from Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez, and two from Sergio Aguero.

The cup now appears to represent City's most likely source of silverware, given that they lie 12 points behind local rivals Manchester United in the league.

But Mancini, who last season appeared to concede defeat to United before winning the title in the season's final seconds, is not ruling anything out.

He said: "In Italy, you say a game like this is like brodino soup, a starter.

"I hope it can help us to start to win in the Premier League."

Mancini was angry and heavily critical of his players after their embarrassing 3-1 loss at Southampton last week.

But his side bounced back with an assured performance against Leeds, and will be confident of another win at home to Barnsley in the quarter finals.

Mancini said: "I am happy because it was important to win after Southampton.

"Every game in the FA Cup is difficult if you don't have a good approach.

"We started very well. Very quickly we scored two goals and after that it was easier."

City's next game is against Chelsea at home on Sunday, in a game which would appear a must-win to keep the pressure on United.

Mancini said: "This is possible but I think we should be confident, always.

"We lost seven points in three games - this can happen for every team. We play a lot of games.

"I think in this moment they (United) deserve to be there because they played better than us. They scored more goals than us."

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