Manuel Pellegrini’s men travel to the Stadium of Light on Wednesday evening seeking to end a run of four consecutive 1-0 defeats on Wearside and banish all talk of bogey teams.
While Nasri believes Sunderland will make City’s task a tricky one, he insists the Champions can use the momentum from victories over Bayern Munich and Southampton in the last eight days to extend the unbeaten run to five games in all competitions and make up more ground on league leaders Chelsea.
“In the past we have not had good experiences against them,” the Frenchman admitted.” It’s always difficult there. We know which sort of game they will play against us - they will be compact and make it hard for us. It’s going to be a really tough game.
“But after this amazing week, the confidence is really high and we need to carry on. It’s really hard when you have a lot of games and you need to have a lot of creativity.
But at the moment up front we have someone who is flying and he can help us unlock any defence in the world.
...Samir Nasri...
“So we have to capitalise on that and hope he can make a difference.”
In a week in which the FSF Player of the Year Award and been nominated for the 2014 FIFA FIFPRO World XI, Nasri has heaped even more praise on his illustrious teammate who continues to scale ever more extraordinary heights.
Said Nasri: “He’s flying. I said after Bayern Munich there’s only one player in the world better than him and that’s Ronaldo. It’s something I’m really convinced about - and not just because he’s my teammate.
“At the moment he’s at the same level as Messi and players like that.”
Aguero has been instrumental in the recent run of fixtures, but the team display has also been crucial in a week that has seen City get back on track in the Champions League with a thrilling victory over Bayern Munich and cut the gap at the top of the Premier League to six points.
A trip to the south coast to take on high-flying Southampton was far from the fixture many would have chosen to follow the date with the German Champions.
However, City showed off their quality, style and resilience to despatch the Saints 3-0 despite going down to ten men after Eliaquim Mangala saw red.
“It’s been a great week for us,” the midfielder declared. “We feel much better. We had a lack of confidence earlier in the season because we were not playing as well as we were last season.
“At the moment, everything is coming back. We have players injured who are coming back really soon.
“But Bayern Munich was the most important result. It gave us a lift to know we can compete with anyone, get a result against anyone - and that’s what we did at Southampton.”
He added: “By New Year’s Day we want to be closer to Chelsea- the game at Stamford Bridge in January will be like a final. But teams like Southampton are still there, United are coming back so it will be open for a while yet.”
Nasri also revealed that team spirit remains high throughout the squad ahead of the gruelling festive fixture calendar.
“It’s as good as it has been,” he said. “We have a great squad, a great group. Everyone is friends with each other. We talk.
“You know what you want, you know what you are fighting for. We all want the same thing - to win trophies, to win the Champions League.”
