KEN EARLY: Mancini needs another miracle

Last April I went to the Emirates and saw Mario Balotelli get sent off.

I saw Arsenal win 1-0 with a late Mikel Arteta goal, blasted beyond Joe Hart from outside the box. I saw Roberto Mancini wash his hands of Balotelli in a furious post-match press conference, and I pronounced the race for the Premier League over: Manchester United’s eight-point lead was too big to lose.

Three weeks later I was at Eastlands to see Vincent Kompany head the winning goal against United that meant City only needed to win their last two matches to win the title. In a way the QPR match was a kind of sideshow; that derby match was the real title decider, and you could never forget the fervour of the night, the steely sense of mission about Manchester City.