City have already lost to West Ham 2-1 in the first meeting between these sides earlier in the season at The Eithad. “Most of the teams in the Premier League have very good players”, Pellegrini said when asked about the strong performances of several unheralded teams this season.
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City manager Manuel Pellegrini will come under pressure if a third title success is not achieved with Pep Guardiola waiting in the wings.
The Hammers have a number of form players including Dimitri Payet and Cheikhou Kouyate, and will not just be making up the numbers as they look to keep the pressure on Manchester United, who they trail by just two points in the league table. If you analyse the whole game we had two or three clear chances to score.
He also said his team feel they can finish in the top six.
That victory came in their last – a 2-1 come-from-behind triumph at Watford – and City go into Saturday’s contest on the back of a comprehensive 4-0 home hammering of Crystal Palace last weekend.
“If you are the Manchester City manager than the pressure comes with the territory”, Bilic added.
West Ham were back in the lead just minutes after half-time, though, as a long Michail Antonio throw was allowed to bounce into the area for Valencia to finish.
But while Bilic believes Pellegrini has at his disposal the greatest squad in the land, he is hopeful West Ham can continue their impressive record against the established big teams this season with another scalp on Saturday. “I hope we work well as a team and get all the three points as these are the type of games that define champions”.
But Aguero played a one-two with Kelechi Iheanacho before slotting the ball past Adrian into the bottom corner with nine minutes to go.
“I think that our mentality is to be an attacking team. We conceded a couple of goals which tells you we can do better”, he told City TV. “They can buy better player than they did 10 years ago”. His 53 chances created leads the team by a large margin, with the second most being Aaron Cresswell with 26.
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Pellegrini, meanwhile, will still be without injured stars Vincent Kompany, Samir Nasri, Wilfried Bony and Eliaquim Mangala for the trip to the Hammers, although Fernandinho is set to return.
