Mancini happy on top at Christmas

Roberto Mancini says Manchester City’s flying start to the Premier League season will mean nothing if they do not win the title.

City beat Stoke 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to stay two points clear of second-placed Manchester United and ensure an unbeaten home record in 2011.

Sergio Aguero’s double either side of a long-range effort from Adam Johnson made the difference and Mancini – himself celebrating two years in charge of City – is delighted with the progress his side have made.

“I’m happy for our supporters that we are top at Christmas,” Mancini said. “They can have a good Christmas day but the important thing is to be there at the end of the season.”

“Now is a difficult moment, we need to work more and believe in ourselves. Until now we have dominated this championship and for this reason we will work until the end.”

“I’m happy. I’m feeling good after two years here. We are working very well and are at the top of the Barclays Premier League.”

“It’s important that we can continue to win at home. Being unbeaten at home this year is a good record but it’s not that important.”

“We are playing very well at the moment but sometimes it’s not enough, like against Chelsea. The Barclays Premier League is very hard, it’s very difficult.”

Stoke boss Tony Pulis paid tribute to City, and said that although his men had tried hard, they were no match for the league leaders.

“It’s always going to be difficult coming here. I think City, you’ve just got to look at their bench to see what they’ve got on their bench to look how tough it is for anybody to play against them,” Pulis said.

“They’ve got to be distraught that are out the Champions League because they’ve got the quality and depth that they’ve got. I think they would have run that very close this year, never mind the Premier League.”

“They are real contenders for every competition that they are in because of the depth of the squad and the quality that they’ve got.”

“We missed (Peter) Crouchy, Ryan (Shawcross), Glenn (Whelan) and Matty Etherington had had a strain. We could have taken a chance but we didn’t want to take a chance with him. You know, we’ve not punched our weight, but sometimes you have to put your hand up and admit that the opposition was better than you. And they were better than us.”