City are 12 points behind neighbours Manchester United after Monday's 1-0 win away at Aston Villa and will in all probability lose their crown as English champions given the league leaders' present form.
However, they will not go down without a fight and nine clean sheets in 11 fixtures so far this year, despite the absence of captain and central defender Vincent Kompany since late January, has kept manager Roberto Mancini in a positive mood.
"We don't have Vinnie at the moment and he's very important to us but Matija [Nastasic] is playing very, very well at the moment," Mancini said of Serbian defender Nastasic.
"We had three or four games like QPR, West Ham, Chelsea where we deserved to win and missed chances to score but sometimes it's enough to win 1-0 like tonight and to fight for every ball," he told the club's website.
"Jack is very unlucky because he was playing really well, it looks like he will be out for another three or four weeks," said Mancini.
"We must keep on winning and you never know, this is football," said the Italian.
"We know it will be difficult but we must try - we hope that they [United] can lose a point or two before the derby, that would be better for us."
