Another big plus point for City was the form of Samir Nasri, who responded to Mancini’s stinging criticism for ducking out of the defensive wall for van Persie’s winner, by playing a full part in the Blues’ tremendous first-half display.
Roberto Mancini: “The season is long enough to recover six points.
“It is not easy but it also not difficult.
"We need to carry on playing as we did at Newcastle and against United, to cut out the mistakes, keep calm and carry on working.
“Samir played very well and created a lot of chances for us. If he plays like this, it makes things easy for us.”