Manchester City's versatile midfielder James Milner has been named the club's Player of the Month for January after a consistent spell which included two crucial goals.

Undoubtedly Milner's personal highlight came in the 2-1 win against Sheffield Wednesday at the Etihad, where the England man scored both goals to steal a stoppage-time victory over their plucky Championship opposition - on his 29th birthday.

Having been presented the award by a City fan, Milner asserted that, despite being five points adrift of leaders Chelsea with 12 games to play, the Premier League title is still within their reach.

"It's a tall order to overturn the gap," he stated. "But, we've come from further behind in a shorter space of time to win the league [in 2011/12].

"We enjoy chasing. Obviously it would be nice to be on top, but that's the position we're in and we seem to thrive off chasing, so that's the position we're in.

"All we can do is control our own destiny by winning our games and hope that Chelsea slip up."

Milner also spoke of the City squad's delight to welcome Ivory Coast pair Yaya Touré and Wilfried Bony back to Manchester following their success in the African Cup of Nations.

"It's big to have Yaya back, and Wilf's a great addition to the squad. He's obviously been a top player at Swansea with the things he's been doing there, so to have him here is great.

"You want to play with the best players and he's shown that he's one of the best players in the Premier League, so hopefully he can do that for us."

City will continue the defence of their Premier League crown this Sunday, travelling to Anfield to face a resurgent Liverpool. Chelsea currently sit on 60 points to City's 55, with the Londoners also enjoying a marginally superior goal difference.

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Sam France
Former Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Features Editor at VAVEL UK, part of the VAVEL team 2014-2018.