The Ivorian has been touted with a move away from the Etihad recently…
Samir Nasri believes the return of key figure Yaya Toure will be enough to lift Manchester City for their key games between now and the end of the season.
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The influential Ivorian is finally set to make his first appearance since winning the African Cup of Nations and Nasri believes ‘his head is in the right place’ to help blue half of Manchester for their up and coming big games, starting with Newcastle United this evening.
The Premier League champions suffered somewhat without the presence of Toure in their side failing to win a league game between New Year’s Day and 11th February, while also suffering a humbling 2-0 home loss to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup 4th round.
Manchester City’s slump in form has seen them slip seven points behind league leaders Chelsea, who also suffered their own FA Cup embarrassment, which could turn into 10 points before the Blues evening game against Newcastle.
Toure will be joined by compatriot Wilfried Bony, who will finally make his debut this weekend after his £25 million January move from Swansea. The Citizens will need all the quality in depth they can muster as they go straight into a huge Champions League last 16 match against Barcelona this Tuesday, a spectacle which will test how far Manuel Pellegrini’s side have come in recent years.
Speaking with the Guardian, French midfielder Samir Nasri believes that following Toure’s international triumph, he will be able to focus purely on helping his club on retaining the title and doing well in Europe.
“I’ve spoken with Yaya and it was something that he was waiting for, now he has it and his head is going to be in the right place and we know how important he is,” said the Frenchman, who thinks the arrival of Bony could be huge for their season.
“Yes, especially after their win they are going to come back very happy. Wilfried Bony, we just hope he’s going to continue his run he had with Swansea, scoring goal after goal and we’ll see at the end of season.”
Nasri remains bullish on City’s chances of retaining the title and doesn’t think the gap is too big at this stage of the season. “No, because the two times we won the league we were behind as well and we just caught them at the end,” he said. “The season is still long, the Champions League is going to come as well and we’re going to have a lot of games. So hopefully they (Chelsea) are going to make a mistake and we are going to try to get in behind and try to sneak in at the end.”