Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has cited their title win of 2013/14 as an example of his side’s resilience – despite his side being in a much worse predicament.
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“Every year you have more stronger teams so everything can happen in the Premier League and I’ve always said that we are going to finish fighting for the title”. Remember the first season I was in charge here, we had to win our three games in hand and we did.
Manchester City’s players celebrate as they win the penalty shoot out which they won during the English League Cup final soccer match between Liverpool and Manchester City at Wembley stadium in London, Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016.
“Plus a lot of the players did the same thing two years earlier on goal difference, so I’m sure this group of players will never give up if we have the option to do it”.
He said: “It’s going to be hard for us to win the title because at the moment we are 10 points behind”.
City host Aston Villa on Saturday having lost their past three Premier League matches and have not won back-to-back in the competition since October. Everybody was pleased with the way we played the first 45 minutes and the plan for the second half was to do the same and maybe exploit one or two good situations.
Reflecting on their defeat, the Chilean said that it was just a bad moment, adding that there was a chance for City to earn 33 more points. “We must continue as far as we can and add the most amount of points we can, then we can see where we end up”, he said.
The Citizens have the quality to win comfortably, and with the return of Yaya Toure, who was absent in the midweek, and the return of De Bruyne, Delph and Nasri looming, this could be a win to catapult the club back on course.
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“We were very frustrated about the [Liverpool] result and the game we played but it’s the past”. It is no news that City are underperforming, but a mere look at their roster suggests they should be able to pick up some momentum as the season draws closer to an end. “We know all teams in the relegation places will create a hard game – I hope we can play our best performance and get the three points”. “We had just defenders or one striker to make the change”.
