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Manchester City goalkeeper Joe Hart is afraid that their chances of defending the Premier League title this season are slowly being slimmed by the United’s “killing machine”.
However, the English goalkeeper negated the fact that City’s chances of finishing at the top again are almost over. He admitted that they are still not out of it by any stretch of imagination. But he felt that his team’s inconsistent show this season was totally exposed by the ruthless and clinical nature of the Reds.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s side now leads the points table of Premier League with a 15 point margin over the second placed City. The goalkeeper however doesn’t think that his side’s hopes of defending the title at the Etihad have been dashed, but they have to be “pretty perfect” in the remaining games to give themselves a chance.
He said, “We worked so hard to get the title that we are never going to just give it away. I’d imagine from the outside it looks that way but that’s just not the case. We are working hard. It’s a tough league. It’s hard to win games. Unfortunately when we do lose, United stretch that lead and it has been disappointing, but we will keep going.
“I don’t know what is different to last season. I’d love to know. It would have been rectified. We’ve done well, but we have been up against a killing machine that has kept turning out results no matter what. Maybe we’ve drawn more than we would have liked to. It has not been a perfect season and it needs to be pretty perfect to win this league. We are not in the position we want to be in. We remain focused and hard on the case of what we need to do.”
Hart followed, “We are still in one cup, a little further away than we would like to be in terms of the league. But we need to nail down that second spot. In doing that it will push us to really go for the title as well. You can’t not go for it. It’s a long way off but we’ve an awful lot to fight for and it’s a big couple of months for us.”
Despite the fact of them being dominated by their nearest rivals, Hart denied that he’d go around hiding from United’s Wayne Rooney, Tom Cleverley, Ashley Young, Chris Smalling, Michael Carrick and Danny Welbeck, when playing for England.
Hart, who will be on his way to Italy today with England for the World Cup qualifier against San Marino, said, “It’s definitely not a personal thing. What they are doing is exactly what I want to be doing right now this year. And vice versa last year. That’s how it is.”
“It’s the same with the Chelsea boys, the Tottenham lads. We are all fighting for something. But we’re not fighting each other, we’re fighting for our teams and clubs. When you come away with England it has gone. We are fighting for England,” he concluded.
