LONDON: Angel di Maria has promised to make up for his spluttering start at Manchester United by firing his side into the Champions League.
Louis van Gaal's team face Sunderland at Old Trafford on Saturday with the race for a top four finish in the Premier League hotting up.
Fourth placed United are one point ahead of Southampton in fifth place and hope to return to winning ways after seeing a seven-game unbeaten run ended by a 2-1 loss at Swansea in their last outing.
Their bid to return to Europe's elite club competition after a one-year absence would be significantly boosted if di Maria can finally hit peak form.
The Argentina international has only offered occasional glimpses of his vast talent since a British record £59.7 million ($92 million) move from Real Madrid last year and he told MUTV: "I've had a couple of games where things haven't gone as well as they could have.
"I think it's part of that settling-in process to the English game.
"I started off quite well but I think that then made expectations rise and everyone thought I would just carry on in the same way.
"But football is like that, sometimes you have these ups and downs. It took me a while to settle fully in each of the countries where I've played before."
Scarred by mid-week Champions League disappointment, Manchester City have a golden opportunity to enhance their title defence when they visit Liverpool on Sunday.
City's hopes of reaching the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time were dealt a sizeable blow on Tuesday when they fell to a 2-1 loss at home to Barcelona in the first leg of their last 16 tie.
The result seriously compromises their chances of going through and the extent of Barcelona's first-half dominance will take some forgetting, but Sunday's return to domestic duties promises much.
With leaders Chelsea not in action due to their participation in Sunday's League Cup final against Tottenham Hotspur, a City win at Anfield will lift the defending champions to within two points of the summit.
City then face a kind run of fixtures, against Leicester City, Burnley, West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace, at a time when Chelsea, held to a 1-1 draw by Burnley last weekend, have begun to show frailties.
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