Hart: Manchester City is fortunate to have Tevez in the team

Posted Saturday, April 14, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

Joe Hart believes that teammate Carlos Tevez can help Manchester City push for its first ever Premier League title following the Argentine's return to the senior squad.

Tevez helped his side recapture winning ways on Wednesday night as they overcame West Bromwich Albion 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium, the Argentine registering a goal in his first start for City since September last year.

The win for Roberto Mancini's side closed the gap at the top of the Premier League to five points following leaders Manchester United's shock defeat against relegation battlers Wigan Athletic.

And Hart believes that Tevez will replace the suspended Mario Balotelli without any problems in the title run-in with their red rivals.

"We have some quality forwards here and it feels like one in, one out with Carlos coming in and Mario suspended," said the England international in The Mirror.

"It’s great to have Carlos back. You can say what you want about Carlos but, if you play him, you know what you’re going to get.

"You don’t get any attitude. On the field, he’s going to give you all he’s got to try to score goals and it’s lucky we’ve got someone like that."

Hart's comments appeared to be an oblique reference to Balotelli, whose red card in the 1-0 defeat by Arsenal at The Emirates last weekend prompted the keeper to publicly display his anger by kicking the goal-post.

"I was just frustrated," explained the 24-year-old.

"You get wrapped up in what happened and it’s frustrating when you lose a player like that."

Hart added that he and his teammates would push United all the way to stop the Red Devils claiming its 20th league title.

“In the same way that United never gave up chasing us, we’ll never give up either.

"If we can get 89 points by winning our last five games, that would take some beating. We can only do what we can now and we'll see where that takes us.

"We have great support that we’ve let down recently and the ultimate goal is that we keep fighting for the title. We’re proud, we’ve achieved a lot this season and there’s no way we’d just let all that go.

"The manager told us before the West Brom game that three matches without a win wasn’t acceptable," Hart revealed.

"One game without a win is not acceptable to us, let alone three."

City travels to Carrow Road on Saturday for a lunchtime clash against Paul Lambert's Norwich, who will be feeling confident following their impressive 2-1 victory at White Hart Lane on Monday. Mancini's side then face Wolves next week before the all-important fixture against neighbors and title rivals United on April 30.

"We’ve got to beat Norwich first, and they’ve been fantastic this season,” said Hart.

"Wolves are scrapping for their lives again, so let’s get them out of the way and then see where we are."