Mancini wants Tevez stay

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is confident Carlos Tevez – fresh from his brilliant brace on Tuesday – will stay at the club.

Tevez sent Mancini a reminder of his talents after scoring the first and third goal in City’s 3-0 win over Stoke in the English Premier League.

Both strikes were of the highest quality, sandwiching a Joleon Lescott header to put the Blues ahead of Arsenal into third place on the English Premier League table.

And after overcoming a saga earlier in the season that almost saw Tevez leave the club, Mancini said the Argentina international has confirmed – verbally – that he wants to remain at Eastlands.

“I’ve always said he (Tevez) has a five-year contract. I talk with him many times. I don’t think we have a problem with him,” Mancini told Sky Sports.

“He is a fantastic striker and a fantastic player for us and I think that he will stay here next year.”

“He told me like this, that he wanted to stay. He has a five-year contract.”

Mancini was keen to move on to the final game of the season on Sunday – a trip to Bolton’s Reebok Stadium – as City look to wrap up third spot in the league.

Achieving that would mean his side would avoid having to qualify for a Champions League group stage spot – a fate now likely to fall the way of Arsenal.

“I think it is important we think about the next game, it is in our hands,” Mancini said of City’s chances on finishing third.

“It is fantastic because everything depends on us. We have got into the position. We have one difficult game and it is very important.”

“We have had a fantastic season with fourth place. Now we have won the FA Cup and if we can recover our strength well in the next four days we will go to Bolton.”

Despite his side’s second loss to City in three days, Stoke manager Tony Pulis said there were plenty of positives to come out of his side’s campaign.

With one game remaining, however, he has a final goal in mind heading to their home clash with Wigan on Sunday.

“We’re hoping we can get the players fit for Wigan. It’s a big game for us because we want to get into the top 10, it’s a big game for Wigan, too,” Pulis told Sky Sports.

“It’s important that we turn out. Every club that’s fighting down there will hope that every team will give it their best. We’ve got to try and do our best against them.”

“It’s been a great season for us in a lot of respects, getting to the FA Cup final, hopefully finishing in the top 10 and getting into Europe. You couldn’t have dreamed of it really.”