DPA/London

The unstinting belief of Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini will be tested again this weekend as the Premier League champions try to bridge a growing gap between themselves and leaders Manchester United.

City’s 1-0 defeat at Sunderland on Boxing Day, combined with United’s 4-3 win over Newcastle, means Mancini’s men trail by seven points at the halfway stage. But Mancini believes his side have the mental strength to get back into the title race over the coming weeks.

“Seven, six or four points, it doesn’t matter, the season is long,” the Italian said. “United concede a lot of goals but they score a lot so they have a chance, but we can recover points.”

But Mancini admitted that City need to recover their form sooner rather than later, having won only two of their past five Premier League games.

“We need to change something in our team because we can’t continue like this - we score too few goals,” he said. “Sometimes we take too many touches and we think, ‘never mind, we can score next time,’ but we can’t be like that - in football, it doesn’t work like that. We have to be stronger in the penalty area.”

City travel to Norwich City tomorrow while United are at home against sixth-placed West Bromwich Albion. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson will be without Wayne Rooney, who picked up a knee injury in training before the Boxing Day game.

But with Robin van Persie in form and Javier Hernandez having scored the injury-time winner against Newcastle United on Boxing Day, Ferguson is blessed with choice in attack. “We had a lot of decisions against us in the first half and sometimes that can demoralise a team,”  Ferguson said of their win over Newcastle.

“But the players didn’t give in and that’s a great quality to have. I’m pleased that we came back three times after going down three times and then scoring the winner. “Chicharito (Hernandez) deservedly got the winner; his movement and courage were unbelievable. He and van Persie were absolutely phenomenal, I thought.” Behind the top two, third-placed Chelsea will be hoping to capitalise on any slip-ups above them, but they face a tricky trip to Everton, who sit just two points behind them in fifth.

Fourth-placed Tottenham will also be looking to cement their position in the top four as they travel to Sunderland, having lost just one match in their past seven. “Everyone is so tight at the top of the table and our target has to be to open a gap ahead of the rest of the teams sitting near the top,” manager Andre Villas Boas said. “Our aim is to take this form to Sunderland, where the Premier League champions just lost. It will be a tough game.”

At the other end of the table, bottom side Queens Park Rangers host an inconsistent Liverpool side, who lost 3-1 at Stoke City on Boxing Day.

“We’ve just got to keep going, there’s nothing else you can do,” QPR manager Harry Redknapp said. Second-bottom Reading play West Ham, Stoke take on Southampton, Aston Villa face Wigan, Fulham take on Swansea and Arsenal host Newcastle.