Patrick Vieira: Manchester City are Champions League contenders

Patrick Vieira thinks Manchester City can challenge for the Champions League title this season if they keep their key players healthy.

City have never made it past the last 16 of the competition, losing to Barcelona in the previous two seasons.

However, they will be favourites to beat Dynamo Kiev when the knockout stages get underway in February, and Vieira thinks his former team could go far.

"The club has been working hard to bring top players to win the Champions League," said Vieira, speaking after winning the Football Writers' Association tribute award on Sunday.

"The details will be having all the players fit and 100 per cent because if Joe Hart is at his best, Vincent Kompany stays fit, Yaya Toure is performing at his best and with David [Silva] and Sergio [Aguero], they will have a big chance of winning the Champions League.

"When Sergio is at his best he can make the difference, he is a top player, one of the best in the world and City are fortunate to have a player of that calibre in the team. Yaya is one of the best around too and one of my favourite players of all time is David."

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Vieira, who now manages New York City FC, also said he was not surprised that another of his former sides, Arsenal, were beaten by Chelsea on Super Sunday.

"If you look at the record then the psychological confidence was with Chelsea even though they are near the bottom of the league," he said. "This shows anything can happen and there is still a very long way to go. The league is still open."

Vieira was presented with his Football Writers' Association tribute award at London's Savoy Hotel on Sunday, with a number of former players praising his impact on the game.

Among the speakers was his long-term adversary, ex-Manchester United skipper Roy Keane, with whom he clashed with on the pitch on many occasions.

Keane made a speech and praised the impact Vieira had on the other, sometimes more heralded players he appeared alongside.

"I don't think we'll ever be bosom buddies buying each other a drink in the pub but out of everybody I ever faced as a player, he drove me to become better," he said.

"Obviously Arsenal were the team that really challenged Manchester United and, for a short time, went past us. And as their leader Patrick was immense.

"Without doubt I'd put him alongside [Zinedine] Zidane, [Paul] Scholes, [Steven] Gerrard and [Frank] Lampard as one of the very best I've ever played with or against, he was that good. On his day, when he was driving Arsenal on with the sheer force of his personality, he was unplayable."