Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta has admitted that the 12-point gap separating them and Premier League leaders Leicester City may be too vast to make up.

The Citizens' 0-0 draw at Norwich City last weekend was thought to have put paid to their hopes of catching the Foxes, who extended their lead by beating Newcastle United on Monday.

Although Manuel Pellegrini's side boast a game in hand, the Argentine right-back concedes that winning the title for the third time since 2012 is too big a dream at the moment.

"Of course we need to be honest with ourselves and just think that the gap between Leicester and us is big – 12 points," the defender told reporters.

"We have a game in hand, but I think it is not right just to think about the title. We need to think about winning the next game, be focused on the next game and this is probably at the moment the best way to see how far we can go in the league.

"Obviously we cannot make any mistakes. We have dropped a lot of points recently so now is just about winning our games. Hopefully we can start on Sunday."

The Sky Blues remain in the Champions League, however, and they have a quarter-final to look forward to after beating Dynamo Kiev over two legs in the last 16.