Mancini expects Norwich test

Roberto Mancini says Manchester City’s trip to Norwich on Saturday will be harder than the derby against champions Manchester United.

City are five points behind English Premier League leaders United with five matches left to play this season.

They host United on April 30, in a match long marked down as a potential title decider.

However, Norwich have only lost four times at home this season, and Mancini expects his team to be sternly examined at Carrow Road.

“Norwich will be the worst game left,” he said.

“We are playing after two days’ rest. The derby (against United) will be easy. We can lose, but it’s easy. It’s not a hard game. We don’t have any problems with this game, we can lose, we can win, but we have no problems. The problem will be against Norwich.

“You know when you play against United or Chelsea, you know that you are concentrating 100 percent. When you play against Norwich, maybe you think it will be an easy game.

“But I think it will be a really tough game tomorrow, also because we have only two days rest from West Brom.”

Mancini discussed the future of striker Mario Balotelli, who has been tipped to leave the club following his sending off against Arsenal last week.

“I spoke with Mario a lot times about his behaviour … If tomorrow, or in two years, or three years, he changes clubs, it’s important that he changes his behaviour,” Mancini said.

“He can lose the quality he has, he can lose that talent because of his attitude. Mario has fantastic qualities, but it’s important that he changes.”

Mancini also defended his record at City, dismissing reports he could be sacked if the team fails to capture the title after dominating for much of the season.

“It’s important that we improve as a team and that we improve from last year,” he said.

“The owners understand that we are improving.

“They don’t think if we lose two or three games everything needs changing. They know that. They know that we are building a strong team. We need time.

“This year we spent 28 games, seven months, on top of the league. But we do need to improve.

“We knew that we had a difficult last 10 games as well. We’ve had injury problems, but … it’s not like we are 10 or 15 points behind the other teams.”