Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini is not concerned for his future even if his side fail to win the Premier League title this season.
City take on neighbours Manchester United on Monday night knowing victory would take them above the champions on goal difference.
Mancini has only one year remaining on his contract but even if City go on to lose the title the Italian says they will win it next season.
“The chairman, Khaldoon (al-Mubarak) and the owner, Sheikh Mansour, are serious people,” Mancini told France Football. “One victory or defeat is not going to change things. We have set a project in place and we respect that.
“After that, in football, anything can change, but I have an excellent relationship with Khaldoon and we speak several times a week. He likes to know all about the team, the players.”
City led the Premier League for much of the season only to fall back but are back in the hunt after United dropped five points in their past three games.
“If Manchester City do not win the league this season, we will win it next season and we will be successful in the future years,” Mancini said. “We are improving. We have played very well and we were top for 28 games.”
Mancini said trying to win the Italian Serie A title with Inter Milan on the final day of the 2007-8 season was a more pressurised moment for him than Monday’s match.
But he admitted the significance for the club made it a massive game.
“City have been waiting for a match like this since 1968,” he said. “I don’t know if my heart will beat faster, though, and yes, of course, I will sleep well on Sunday night. I will sleep peacefully.
There are more important things in life.”
Win or lose, Mancini said City were closing the gap on United.
“In the league, we have made enormous progress over teams who have been in the Champions League for a long time. I think we can be proud of our work.
“A few weeks ago, we were eight points behind United. When you are so much behind in the table, you can give up, but it was not true in our case and this is very important.
“Playing against United has helped our progression, it helped us to learn. We are nearer to them, but they are still even better than us.
“They have more experience and that team spirit that we are currently building, but even when we lost to them, we had interesting games. Against them, we always manage to excel.
“But for 20 years, United have won constantly. Even when they are behind in a game, or in the league, they know they can come back because they have this inner strength borne from all of their success.”