Roberto Mancini has conceded the Premier League title but says he will be at Manchester City next season to try and win it back.
Champions City would go into Saturday's home game with Newcastle 18 points behind Manchester United, if the leaders win at Sunderland in the day's early game.
Mancini insists City's focus now should be holding off a challenge from London duo Chelsea and Tottenham for the runners-up spot.
He said: "It's over, but this doesn't change anything because we should do our best from now to the end.
"Every top team, when you can't win a title, you should try to play well, try to win all the games, and we have the FA Cup semi-final.
"We have Chelsea four points behind, Tottenham five points behind and we play another nine games. For this reason it's important to keep working hard."
The future of Mancini and midfielder Yaya Toure continue to be questioned in the press, and newspaper reports on Thursday suggested the Italian has been earmarked as the man to revive Monaco's fortunes.
Asked about the link, Mancini said: "Monaco is one of the best teams in the French Second Division and they have a good manager. I'll stay here for a long time - like Yaya!"
"Yaya will stay here for a long time. Yaya is one of the best players in the world and he will stay here for another three, four, five (years), I don't know. A long time."
