Manchester City effectively waved goodbye to any chances of winning the Premier League title this season when they failed to record victory at St Andrews on Wednesday, with the visitors twice being pegged back by a spirited Birmingham City team.

It now means that City’s focus is very much on staying in the top four of the table and qualifying for the Champions League and Mancini has called upon his team to show a better attitude between now and the rest of the season.

“We must improve. We need to play football again and the last two weeks we have to forgot this,” said Mancini.

“We must change our mentality, play football and stop conceding goals. We need to work harder in training.”

It’s not the first time that the old ‘we must work harder’ line has been wheeled out and one wonders how players on over £100,000 a week can’t be persuaded to sweat blood on the training ground.

However, the partnership of Edin Dzeko and Carlos Tevez looks set to thrive and West Brom are in the mire after drawing 2-2 at home to Wigan on Tuesday.

It’s a result that keeps them close to the foot of the table and Roberto di Matteo is getting angry with refereeing decisions he feels is costing his team.

“It’s frustrating me and I’m disappointed,” said Di Matteo. “We’re not asking for any gifts, we’re just asking for key decisions to be right.”

Match odds:

Man City, 4/9 with Paddy Power

Draw, 7/2 with bet365

West Brom, 8/1 with Betfred