Yaya Toure admits Manchester City's title hopes will be decided this week.
Manuel Pellegrini's men head across town to face neighbours Manchester United tomorrow hell-bent on a third straight win at Old Trafford.
That's followed by a trip to Arsenal at the weekend and the back-to-back clashes promise to be the acid test of City's title credentials.
Toure said: "Both games are important because we have to be sharp, clever and strong.
"United are not doing so well, but you have to be careful against them, and Arsenal, after losing 6-0 to Chelsea, will be hungrier and want their fans to believe again.
"We have to do the job, play together and be strong. And any chance we get to score we will have to take it. Then we will see what can happen.
"If we can win all of our games, it would be good for us, but we know it will be tight. All the teams at the bottom will fight to stay in the league.
"It will be difficult but we have the squad and we have the team."
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