Manuel Pellegrini could be without Yaya Toure for the Champions League semi-final second-leg tie with Real Madrid.
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Pellegrini believes the scheduling of his side’s Barclays Premier League game at Southampton at 4.30pm on Sunday hampers their hopes of reaching the final of Europe’s leading club competition.
City’s players will have one day’s rest less than Real Madrid ahead of the second leg of their semi-final at the Bernabeu next Wednesday.
Southampton manager Ronald Koeman has urged Sadio Mane to show greater consistency after the striker scored a hat-trick to guide his team to a 4-2 victory against Manchester City on Sunday.
“I was disappointed in the way we defended, they were less concentrated and we had a lot of problems”.
City are five points above United and six clear of the Hammers – but have played a game more than both their rivals. Indeed, Pellegrini was asked specifically about Sterling yet, having praised Iheanacho, he refused to offer even the briefest insight into his assessment of English football’s most expensive player.
“I always say the best way to prepare for the next game is to win and that’s why we did so well before Paris Saint-Germain”.
City battled for a goalless draw in last week’s first leg, denying Madrid an away goal, but Iheanacho accepts the visitors will face a tough task in midweek.
“But we’ll keep our heads down and focus on the next games”.
I’m not honestly sure what Manchester City “manager for now at least” Manuel Pellegrini was expecting.
Mane’s hat-trick and Shane Long’s strike kept Saints’ Europa League qualification bid alive, with Tottenham and Crystal Palace left to play in the Premier League. “Kelechi today scored two goals and is doing well in all the games but for the moment I am not thinking about that”. “I also think that I had to select the team that I think would play on Wednesday”.
“All of the other players are fit”, Pellegrini added. He broke out last season when Southampton were in the European hunt for most of the year, and it’s good to see that he’s still got his scoring touch.
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Southampton’s win means Arsenal hold onto third place – with the top three assured of automatic passage to the Champions League group stages next term – while the club that finishes fourth must enter the play-off stages before the tournament proper. It’s worth noting at this time that despite having one of the most expensive squads on the planet Bayern will clinch the Bundesliga title with only one or zero match days remaining while Leicester did so in England with two matches remaining something Pep’s Bayern wasn’t able to do.
