London, Feb 2 : Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has claimed he is confident title rivals Manchester United would certainly falter in the Premier League race due to their overcrowded fixture list in coming months.

Mancini believes United's Champions League two-leg clash with Spanish champions Real Madrid can have a big say on the title race, adding Man City's lack of European games means they would have the edge.

The Italian expressed hope that when they arrive at the end of February, the gap with rivals United would be very, very small, the Sun reports.

Mancini believes that United are due a blip, like the one at the end of last season that saw them surrender their eight-point lead with six games left.

The former Inter Milan manager said it is natural for every team to go through a bad phase of two or three weeks during the long season even if they have great players in the team.

United face Madrid home and away in the middle of a busy period of league and Cup games between February and March.

Mancini said those two are important games for United so he thinks that February and March could be the time when it's possible to decide this championship, adding they should fight until April.

Mancini admitted that if United has seven, eight, nine points in April, it could be difficult maybe but in this moment they have a big chance. (ANI)