City are currently in fifth spot and battling with Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Aston Villa for a place in next season's Champions League.

The Citizens were boosted by Liverpool's defeat to Wigan Athletic on Monday night and Roberto Mancini's men have a match in hand on two of their rivals.

De Jong believes that defeat has handed the initiative to his side, who are also lifted by an upcoming home match against Villa, with Martin O'Neill's team currently four points behind City with a match in hand.

The Dutchman said: "We have a good chance, I mean Liverpool lost so it's going to be a tight race at the end.

"Everybody goes for fourth place of course but I think we can do it.

"We've got one game in hand (over Spurs), we've got a couple of good games against our opponents as well at home so you've just got to try to keep going and focus, try to get those three points in every game and we'll see where we end (up)."