A place in Europe's number one club competition could be secured as early as tomorrow evening should City overcome Everton at Goodison Park and Tottenham lose to Blackpool in the later game. More likely, City will have to wait until next Tuesday's home encounter with Spurs to confirm their new exalted status. Not that Mancini is getting stressed about that. He is just imploring his team to retain their focus. "It is important to reach the Champions League by the end of the season, it doesn't matter whether it is Saturday or Tuesday or any of the four games we still have left," he said. "We need another four points. Then we would be 100% sure. "It was the first target we had when we started the season and at this moment we have a big chance. "But we have done nothing yet." Even if City do complete their task, there are some who feel it will still represent a missed opportunity and that Mancini over-estimated the strengths of Manchester United and Chelsea in what has largely been derided as a sub-standard Premier League. The Italian is not convinced, and feels the lure of Champions League combat could attract the additional talent that would ensure the problems City have encountered this season can be combated should they occur again. "We had a problem when we had five or six important players injured at a crucial moment between February and March and lost some games," he said. "This experience will be very important next year. "It is important that we go to the Champions League because we still need to improve. "If we can buy some more good players, we have a chance." Given the proximity, not just to one of those coveted top-four berths, but also to ending that 35-year wait for a trophy, which they will do at Wembley next Saturday if City beat Stoke in the FA Cup final, it would be easy for the Blues to start getting ahead of themselves. Mancini insists it will not happen. "Our focus should be solely on Everton, nothing more," he said. "It is impossible to think about the final or any other games. "I know we have reached the FA Cup final but we still have to play it. We are in fourth place in the league but we still have another four games left. "For an entire year, we have worked very hard to reach this stage. "But we have to continue because the job is not finished." Indeed, it is not hard to come up with a scenario which could turn City's healthy lead into a very precarious one. Tottenham would appear unlikely to be beaten by Blackpool, who are clinging on to their Premier League status by the most fragile of goal difference advantages. Spurs will also travel north hopeful of repeating the Eastlands win at an even later stage of last season that swept them into this season's Champions League. Clearly then, avoiding defeat at Everton is of huge importance for the Blues. It is something that requires a change in form for Mancini though, who has lost all three meetings with David Moyes' men since he succeeded Mark Hughes as City boss in December 2009. "It is always difficult for us against Everton but we want to change that," said Mancini. "Sometimes in football one team beats another all the time for no obvious reason. "Earlier this season, we deserved to win but we still lost. "These records do finish though. "We have improved since then and we are ready to fight to prove it."
