I'm back! Nasri shares his joy at returning to City training, while Pellegrini opts out of mind games with title rival Mourinho



Samir Nasri has expressed his happiness at returning to training with Manchester City.

The France international has been out of action since a rash tackle by Newcastle's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa on January 12.



But he posted a message on his Instagram account today that read: 'Happy to be back with the team. First full session. Can't wait to be back in the squad. Thank you for your support.'

And by the big grin he was wearing in training today, his joy at being back in the fold is clear to everyone.

VIDEO Scroll down to watch Manuel Pellegrini discuss the tackle that injured Nasri



All smiles: Samir Nasri (left) and Yaya Toure share a joke at a Manchester City training session on Tuesday

Happiness: Nasri can't stop smiling about being back in training with Man City after a spell out injured



Message of joy: Nasri shares his happiness at being back in training on his Instagram account

And with Saturday's FA Cup clash with Chelsea and the first meeting with Barcelona in the Champions League the following Tuesday, Nasri, and Sergio Aguero - also back from injury - will be desperate to get back in the action.

Team-mates Fernandinho and Javi Garcia are also back in training.



Meanwhile, Manuel Pellegrini has refused to be drawn further into a war of words with Jose Mourinho, insisting that the Chelsea manager’s mind games will not derail Manchester City’s title bid.



On Monday, Mourinho criticised the FA’s decision not to charge City midfielder Yaya Toure for his alleged kick at Norwich’s Ricky van Wolfswinkel, having previously claimed that his rivals have been ‘lucky’ with a number of refereeing decisions this season.



Foul play: This is the tackle, from Newcastle's Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, that put Nasri out of action

Back in action: Nasri gets a decent work out in training ahead of City's match with Sunderland



Pellegrini has dismissed that suggestion as little more than a lie, as well as Mourinho’s claims that Chelsea are just a ‘little horse’ in the title race. The City boss alluded to Chelsea’s spending in the transfer market by describing them as ‘a little horse but very rich’, which in turn caused the Portuguese to question Pellegrini’s maths.



Speaking ahead of Wednesday’s game at home to Sunderland, Pellegrini resisted the temptation to retaliate once more, however.



‘I answered just once to Mourinho because if you remain always in silence (it appears as though) you may agree with those things.



‘He started talking about referees and Financial Fair Play. I don’t think it is the way. But just once (I responded). I will not continue every week talking about things that for me are not an important level.



War of words: Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini has refused to respond to Jose Mourinho's latest comments

‘I don’t think those are mind games. I don’t think any managers can be affected by those kind of things.’

Asked about the FA’s decision not to charge Toure and Mourinho’s comments about it, the City boss added: ‘I suppose the FA acts the way they think is better for all the teams. I trust in the FA and I trust in referees.



‘I repeat, I don’t respond to things Mourinho says every week because he will continue every week to try talking about things that are not about football.’



City’s game against Sunderland is a dress rehearsal of their Capital One Cup final next month. Pellegrini’s side then face Chelsea in the FA Cup this weekend, having lost to Mourinho’s side at home in the Premier League last week, before a huge Champions League clash on Tuesday. However, the Chilean denied that the next seven days will ‘make or break’ City’s season.



Rivals: Mourinho (left) and Pellegrini have had a public disagreement over their respective title prospects

‘I don’t think the season will finish this week,’ he added. ‘I think it is important. It is just the first game against Barcelona – we have to play the other game in March – but it is important to have a good result here at home.



‘We can continue in FA Cup or we can go out, that is a knockout, and if we draw we have another game. In the Premier League, we have a very important three points, and after that we have 36 points more (to play for).



‘I think it is a very important week for us. We have to play in the three competitions and maybe we are not in our best moment for the amount of players that are injured, but we must play tomorrow in the Premier League, Saturday in the FA Cup and in Tuesday in the Champions League.



Shut out: Man City were unable to break down Norwich on Saturday, losing valuable title race points

Controversy: The FA decided against banning Yaya Toure (centre) for this apparent kick on Ricky van Wolfswinkel

‘We will see what happens this week, the team returns to normal performance and I hope the future will be best when we have all the players back.’



The goalless draw at Norwich saw City fail to score for the second game in a row following the defeat to Chelsea, and Pellegrini claimed that injuries to Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho, Samir Nasri and Javi Garcia have hit his side hard.



Nasri and Garcia resumed training on Tuesday and could be fit to face Chelsea, but Aguero and Fernandinho remain sidelined.



‘Both performances (Chelsea and Norwich) were absolutely linked with the amount of players that were injured,’ said Pellegrini. ‘We had five players less and we played with three players who were not 100 per cent – especially the strikers.



Return: Fernandinho (centre) laughs with Yaya Toure on his return to training this week

The road back: Javi Garcia (right) has also boosted the options of City boss Pellegrini by returning to training

‘In these two games, Alvaro Negredo was not 100 per cent, Edin Dzeko was not 100 per cent and Aguero was not available. I suppose in the future, we will continue to score goals. It is also important because everyone was warning about the goals we concede and thought it was easy to score goals. The most difficult thing in football is to score.



‘I think it is normal that all teams will drop points. From the last 30 points we won 25, and it is an important amount of points. We lost to Chelsea and drew against Norwich. I think that all the teams in relegation positions or bad positions in the table will add points in the second half, so for me it is normal.’



Asked who were the title favourites now, he added: ‘The same teams that were favourites three or four weeks ago. It is a very close Premier League. I think that Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Tottenham and Liverpool are all in a fight for the title. I suppose all of them will be there to the end.

