City boss Mancini targets top two finish

Roberto Mancini's reign as Manchester City manager began on a winning note on Saturday but it was another frustrating day for his fellow Italian Carlo Ancelotti as Premier League leaders Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Birmingham.City's first match since Mancini's controversial replacement of Mark Hughes ended in a 2-0 win over Stoke that lifted the Abu Dhabi-backed club back to within three points of the top four place targeted by their new Italian manager.

Roberto Mancini's reign as Manchester City manager began on a winning note on Saturday but it was another frustrating day for his fellow Italian Carlo Ancelotti as Premier League leaders Chelsea were held to a goalless draw by Birmingham.City's first match since Mancini's controversial replacement of Mark Hughes ended in a 2-0 win over Stoke that lifted the Abu Dhabi-backed club back to within three points of the top four place targeted by their new Italian manager.

New Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini insisted his team could yet emerge as English Premier League title contenders after a 3-0 win away to Wolverhampton Wanderers.Carlos Tevez scored twice and Javier Garrido struck a brilliant, if controversial, free-kick as City won Monday's match here at Molineux in style to move to within 10 points of current leaders Chelsea.Victory also preserved their perfect record under former Inter Milan boss Mancini after the Italian began his City career by overseeing Saturday's 2-0 home win against Stoke.

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has flown back to Europe during his team's US tour because of a family illness.Mancini left Baltimore to fly to Italy on Friday, the English Premier League team said. Mancini's father lives in Italy."Clearly it's a difficult time for the boss with him having to go back for family reasons," said Brian Kidd, who will manage the team with David Platt in Mancini's absence. "It's all happened very suddenly."

Manchester City moved into third place in the Premier League with a 5-0 demolition of Sunderland at Eastlands on Sunday.Roberto Mancini's side killed off the Black Cats with goals from Adam Johnson and Carlos Tevez in the first 15 minutes before David Silva, Patrick Vieira and Yaya Toure netted in the second half.City's biggest league win of the season lifted them one point ahead of fourth placed Chelsea and six in front of Tottenham in fifth spot, leaving Mancini's men in good shape in the race to qualify for next season's Champions League.

Chelsea forward Salomon Kalou on Tuesday warned rivals Manchester City that their spending spree will not guarantee them the Premier League title.City boss Roberto Mancini has spent over 70 million pounds (84 million euros) on signing Yaya Toure, Jerome Boateng, Alexander Kolarov and David Silva as he looks to take the league title from Chelsea.Kalou thinks City will improve on their fifth place last season, but insists their new arrivals will take time to find their feet before the team can win the championship.

Carlos Tevez scored a hat-trick as Manchester City moved up into fourth place in the English Premier League table with a 4-1 win over Blackburn Rovers at Eastlands here on Monday.Victory meant City maintained their perfect record under Italian manager Roberto Mancini with their fourth straight success even if they did concede their first goal under the former Inter Milan boss when Morten Gamst Pedersen scored for Rovers to make it 3-1.But the match belonged to Argentina's Tevez, the former Manchester United striker, who was in brilliant form.

Roberto Mancini crowned an eventful first news conference as Manchester City manager by saying he wanted to bring the English Premier League title to Eastlands next season.It is more than 40 years since City were last crowned champions of England.And given the manner in which his predecessor Mark Hughes was sacked last week, there are some who believe former Inter Milan boss Mancini may do well to still be at City come the start of the 2010/11 campaign.