Roberto Mancini: Manchester United "deserve to win the title"

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has conceded that rivals Manchester United deserve to win the Premier League title this season.

The champions sit 15 points adrift of their rivals with just eight games remaining heading into the clash between the two at Old Trafford on Monday.

City recorded a famous 6-1 victory in this fixture last season, but the Italian feels that a win of that calibre would be impossible to repeat.

"6-1 is in history," Mancini told BBC Sport. "We can talk about this for another 200 years, but it is impossible to do this another time.

"We know we can beat them [on the day] because they are not better than us. We need to go there thinking we are like them, that we are a strong team like them.

"But they deserve to win this title."

City are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.