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Premier League’s smaller teams snapping at heels of elite, says Slaven Bilic

Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi said he was confident his team will not be caught out again by West Ham United as they bid to for a season defining victory at Upton Park on Saturday.

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Manchester City were rampant seven days ago, with the 2013/14 league champions brushing aside Crystal Palace in a 4-0 rout.

City have already lost to West Ham 2-1 in the first meeting between these sides earlier in the season at The Eithad.

“We were a bit disappointed in the dressing room but to be fair I would like to say it was a great game of football and I am really proud of the guys”.

“If you analyse the whole game we had two or three clear chances”, said Pellegrini. “We have done it before, so we don’t have to dream to do something that other clubs have done”.

“I think our mentality always is to be an attacking team”. But Bilic believes the former Real Madrid and Malaga manager is dealing admirably with speculation surrounding his future.

“Maybe a throw-in you are not thinking it could be unsafe”. Always when he comes back from injury, he needs two or three games to come back to his best performance.

Cheikhou Kouyaté cruised past a lacklustre Yaya Toure on the left flank, before delivering a cross into the box that kindly deflected off Fabian Delph and to the feet of the unmarked Valencia, and the forward comfortably dispatched his effort past Joe Hart. They were also unable to beat the Merseysiders in the league just over a week ago when the sides drew 0-0 at Eastlands.

“The Premier League is so demanding that you can’t play at 80 per cent. I’ve tried to do that before and that’s when I’ve injured myself”, added Aguero, who has scored 13 goals in all competition this season. This was City with the handbrake on, dawdling along and hoping that this Premier League title race will remain as unpredictable elsewhere, as opposed to seizing control of it.

Pellegrini’s men are just one point adrift of leaders Arsenal and second-placed Leicester City and Raheem Sterling is keen for them to make strides towards the summit as soon as possible.

“It’s very important that we keep on a good run and avoid dropping any points between now and the end of the season if we possibly can”.

“Newcastle were second from bottom and everyone thought we’d go and take three points”.

“I felt a twinge in my leg and with the slightest sprint I felt it again”. They will be getting both Fernandinho and Eliaquim Mangala back from injury after they’d missed the past few games.

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“When he starts working with the whole squad then he needs at least one week more to return”.

West Ham and Manchester City fans clash after the game