Title still not in our hands, says Mancini, but Ferguson disagrees

United were held to a 4-4 home draw by Everton yesterday and City took advantage by winning 2-0 at Wolves to doom the Black Country side to relegation.

Mancini remains adamant the title is “not in our hands” even though City, who have a superior goal difference, would finish top if they win their remaining three games.

However, United counterpart Sir Alex Ferguson has labelled next week’s Manchester derby as the most important in his career after branding the April 30 encounter at the Etihad Stadium a “title decider”.

Mancini said: “Is it a good day? Not really. We won a difficult game. Wolves are relegated. I don’t think they deserve to be there.

“I’m very sorry for them. They fight for every ball. For us, we didn’t play well. Only one team can win this title. It’s not in our hands. We have three points less.

“You all wrote the title race was finished. Seven days ago, the race was finished. You wrote it. I congratulate Sir Alex Ferguson on a good season.

“After the derby we play Newcastle, who are fighting for the Champions League, and QPR, who are fighting relegation.

“We can talk about the title next Monday night. It’s impossible.”

In terms of whether City or United are under more pressure, Mancini said: “I don’t think they have pressure because they are used to it every year.

“For us, it’s different because it’s the first time. At the moment, we don’t have any pressure because we are not expected to win. But we want to finish well. It’s important for our season.”

Sergio Aguero’s 29th goal of the campaign opened the scoring at Molineux midway through the first half and Samir Nasri wrapped up the points after the break.

Ten minutes from the end at Old Trafford it seemed champions United would be preparing for the ultimate act of revenge after their 6-1 mauling by the Blues in October.

But goals from Nikica Jelavic and Steven Pienaar secured a staggering 4-4 draw for Everton which means United go to Manchester City knowing if they lose they will surrender the initiative.

“Yes, definitely,” said Ferguson, when asked if it was the most important derby he has known.

“We’ve given them the initiative, there is no doubt about that.”

Twice in the second half United established two-goal leads after initially falling behind to Jelavic’s opener.

Wayne Rooney scored two more goals to take his seasonal tally to 33. When Danny Welbeck and Nani scored in the space of two minutes around the hour mark, it appeared victory was secure.

But Ferguson was stunned by the collapse of a team that had kept six clear sheets in their previous seven games.

“There were defensive lapses,” he said. “Their goals were really soft.”