Goal.com

The Manchester City defender says his side are drawing inspiration from their comeback last season as they try to close the 15-point gap between themselves and Manchester United

Manchester City defender Gael Clichy insists his club are still in the Premier League title race despite falling 15 points behind current leaders Manchester United.

City pulled off a miraculous comeback to win their first title for 44 years last season, as they pegged back their rivals after being eight points behind with just six games remaining.

This campaign they find themselves further behind, but with 11 games left to play Clichy is confident Roberto Mancini's team have enough time to drag themselves back into contention.

PREMIER LEAGUE LATEST
25/1	Manchester City are 25/1 with Bet365 to win the title

"We've done it before and we will continue to look back to last season as an inspiration," the former Arsenal left-back told City's official website.

"Yes, they [Manchester United] are 15 points ahead, but we have our game on Monday and they can drop points in the coming weeks so why not?

"We have to give our answers out on the pitch and if we are this far behind because of what has happened so far this season then we have another 11 games to go out and put things right.

"We just need to win, keep going and see what happens. People will keep asking us whether it is over or not but we are just focusing on each game and finishing the season as strongly as possible.

"We are all determined and won’t be giving up on anything, I can assure you."

City currently have a game in hand on United and can reduce the deficit by three points on Monday night when they travel to face Aston Villa.

The defending champions thumped Paul Lambert's relegation-threatened side 5-0 in the reverse fixture back in November, but Clichy is not prepared to take the fixture at Villa Park lightly.

"Of course we are going to have to be careful because Aston Villa are desperate for points and if we don't work hard, we know what could happen," the 27-year-old added.

"Villa are not a bad side and I think that they eventually will become a very good side, but we have to go there, be very professional and repeat our performance against Chelsea – if we do that, we'll have a great chance of taking the three points.

"We need to start well and hit the ground running on Monday evening."