However, City could also win the Champions League and so automatically qualify again.
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For City manager Pellegrini, his side’s trip to Swansea offers an opportunity to leave on a high note as the Chilean prepares to clear his desk ahead of the arrival of Pep Guardiola, who moves to Eastlands from Bayern Munich in the close-season.
A clause in United’s £750m deal with kit supplier Adidas means they would sacrifice £22m over the remainder of the 10-year contract should they fail to qualify for the Champions League group stage in successive seasons.
“I always think we can do better”, Pellegrini said Thursday, “but the important thing to compare with the other teams – if we make the sum of the three seasons that I was in charge here, we were the team that won most points”.
“If you make a summary of the three seasons I was in charge here, we were the team that had the most points, the team that had the best performance from a manager”.
Mathematically, sixth-place West Ham could still also finish fourth but it is highly unlikely, given the team is three points behind City and has an inferior goal difference of 15. They have scored 255 goals, 40 better than next best Liverpool, and conceded 115, a figure bettered only by Chelsea (111), Arsenal (113) and Manchester United (114).
At least two Europa League places are up for grabs, and possibly three if Man United wins the FA Cup and finishes in the top six.
FC’s Steve Nicol reflects back on Manuel Pellegrini’s time with Manchester City.
I think there will be a twist in the games between United and City. However, his argument was undermined by his tendency to exaggerate.
“[Reaching] the Champions League maybe outweighs winning sometimes, even the FA Cup in terms of the commercial options of a football club”.
“Of course, I think it’s a successful season, for a lot of reasons”, he said.
With a memorable Premier League campaign coming to a conclusion with the final round of fixtures this weekend, the focus is split between the Manchester rivals’ battle for the last spot in Europe’s elite club competition and a fitting finale for Leicester as the fairytale champions bow out at the home of last year’s winners. “The third thing is that in the whole season we were always in the Champions League spots and the fourth thing is that it was a very hard season, especially in January and February when we were involved in four competitions”.
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“As a team that always want to play good football, to always try to score, not just trying to get a result and when you score a goal, the game is finished”.
