Joe Hart: Manchester City are out of title race and need to finish third

Joe Hart has accepted Manchester City are out of the title race following Sunday’s derby defeat, with the goalkeeper stating it is now imperative the champions try and finish third.
City lost 4-2 to Manchester United at Old Trafford, their first loss in the fixture in five matches. The defeat means Manuel Pellegrini’s team remain in fourth though Liverpool can close the gap to four points if they beat Newcastle United on Monday evening.
The win for Louis van Gaal’s side took them to 65 points, four ahead of City, in third place, and Hart said: “It’s essential to try and finish third. We’ve got to get our heads down and win these massive games.”
City play West Ham United next on Saturday, and after goals from Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Juan Mata and Chris Smalling were answered only by two Sergio Agüero strikes, Hart admitted it will take time to revive spirits.
“That’s one of my worst in a Man City shirt, definitely,” he said. “I’m hurting from this defeat – there’s a lot of emotion running through me. We’ll think about it and we’ll go again.
“It’s hard to take. We’ve won enough of them to know how to lose properly though and we weren’t good enough after the first 15 minutes. We let ourselves down and we let our supporters down. But there are six games to go now and they are so big for us.”
As with Pellegrini who could offer no concrete answer, Hart is unsure why City’s form has slumped, the reverse to United marking a sixth defeat in eight matches.
“It would be easier to win games if I knew what was wrong with us but we’ve played well and been unfortunate in some games,” he said. “Not many teams have put us to the sword like that. United know what they are doing, they took their chances. I didn’t have an overly busy day but United took their chances.”

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