Why City's capitulation at Chelsea was the perfect early Christmas present for Fergie

By David Anderson

Published 15:26 13/12/11

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Now we're going to see what Manchester City are really made of.

Despite City's hare rocketing away from the start line in the title race to open up an early five-point lead, they can be overtaken by the plodding tortoise of Manchester United on Sunday.

United can move one point clear of City if they beat QPR on Sunday lunchtime, which would pile even more pressure on to Roberto Mancini's side as they walk out to face in-form Arsenal.

That would mark a swift turnaround from the derby when it looked like City were cantering to the title after their 6-1 demolition of United at Old Trafford.

But the first rule of football is never write off Fergie and, despite the trauma of their Champions League exit, they are very much back in the race.

Fergie has always said he will settle for being there or thereabouts come the hectic Christmas and New Year period because he knows his side have unrivalled experience when it comes to winning titles in the second half of the season.

They've been in this position so many times before and you only have to look back to January 2009 when they raced past Liverpool thanks to three league wins in a week and Rafa Benitez's side were left eating their dust.

This will be the big factor in this critical phase in the title race.

We all know what United are made of and their response to their numbing defeat to Basel was to breeze past Wolves at Old Trafford.

Although the likes of Phil Jones, David De Gea and Ashley Young have never experienced the intense pressure of the title race, when every game is must win, they will be helped by their highly-decorated colleagues, like Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra.

City don't have this huge bank of title-winning experience to draw on and instead Mancini has been able to keep his ego-filled dressing room largely together - with the notable exception of Carlos Tevez - because they were winning.

Winning the FA Cup and qualifying the Champions League helped enormously, as did their great unbeaten start.

But that's gone now and this will be the real test of his managerial ability as he tries to lift his side after last night's disappointing defeat to Chelsea when everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

Fergie will have chuckled to himself as he sipped a glass of one of his favourite reds last night when he heard what had happened at Stamford Bridge and he knows he's got City just where he wants them.

He knows this mad Christmas schedule will really test City and the Blues have no let-up in January with United in the FA Cup and a Carling Cup two-legged semi-final against Liverpool.

Squeaky bum time has come early this season.

***

David McDonnell is away

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