Bacary Sagna says Manchester City can still be crowned champions at the end of the season because they are the best team in the Premier League.
City's title hopes suffered a major blow last weekend when they were beaten 3-1 at home by Leicester City to leave them three points behind the surprise leaders, but Sagna reckons the Blues have the quality to beat any side in the Premier League and can still overhaul their rivals.
"We are a top team and, to me, we are the best team in the league," the French defender told Sky Sports. "Right now things haven't gone the way we wanted them to go, but that's football, hopefully we learn.
"We will also learn from last week [the Leicester defeat]. We can start looking ahead and start looking forward to getting back to our best.
"I want to think positive though, we are still on top and -- while we are six points behind Leicester -- we are not far away," Sagna added. "If we win every single game we can make it happen.
"We've got used to playing in big games and playing under pressure so we are ready to fight for the title."
City face another test of their title credentials on Sunday when they play second-placed Tottenham Hotspur at the Etihad.
Defeat could leave City nine points off the top, but Sagna is remaining positive and sees the game as an opportunity to close the gap on their rivals.
"It is essential we beat Tottenham like it will be essential for us to beat other teams in the future. We cannot afford to drop points as we have," the full-back said. "It's a massive game because we want to stay in contact with the top teams, we are part of the top teams, we are still involved in four competitions, and we want to go and get the title at the end of the season.
"We still have plenty of time to do it, but we need to start winning again. Everyone has trust, we trust that we have the confidence and qualities and we are going to try and make it happen.
"If you want to be the champion you have to beat everyone because it's a strange league this year.
"Back in the day, whenever you were playing a lower team on paper you could be quiet confident. Nowadays everyone can beat everyone, so we don't have an excuse."