“From the squad that played against Norwich last Saturday, we have lost Per Mertesacker”, said Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, according to the official club website.
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Addressing a half-full Etihad Stadium after the final whistle, Pellegrini told City’s fans: “It was not the way we wanted to finish the season”. He said: “For them to be going into a Champions League semi-final second leg and having the opportunity to progress to the final is a major situation. I hope that on Sunday we can continue being a scoring team”.
Playing so many hard games over a short period of time took its toll on Manchester City, with some of its players suffering from fatigue.
Despite losing 2-1 at home to Southampton, Tottenham is assured of a top-three finish and therefore automatic qualification to the Champions League group stage.
Kevin de Bruyne ran half the length of the pitch, holding off four defenders, to grab City’s second before Alexis Sanchez grabbed Arsenal’s equaliser.
In the main game of the day, Manchester City shared the spoils with Arsenal as they failed to bag all 3 points after failing to hold on to the lead twice.
But the introduction of Theo Walcott for Iwobi provided an injection of dynamism to Arsenal’s attack and after he had lofted a shot wide from Giroud’s lay-off, the visitors equalised through Sanchez. How City’s defence copes with these loses is unknown of yet, but as seen previously this season, they are a much stronger side with Kompany in the team than out of it.
“But I can assure you, I played with Jens Lehmann, if you do that to him he would’ve grabbed you by the collar of your neck and let you know what he thinks about you. He will be out for six to eight weeks I think”, Wenger added. I have had unforgettable years here but I don’t want to analyse in this moment.
Yet, only a few thousand fans stayed back after the game to bid Pellegrini farewell.
“For me this is the best league in the world, for a lot of reasons”. We have to keep the focus. If Louis van Gaal’s men manage to win both the remaining matches, irrespective of City’s fate in their last game, United’s otherwise forgettable season could turn into celebrations at the fag-end of the season.
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For Wenger, the Citizens did give their all for boss Manuel Pellegrini and he was pleased with his side’s never say die character in response.
