Pellegrini: Man City can still win title

The Etihand outfit suffered another surprise defeat on Saturday but the Chilean coach is adamant that they can finish the season as champions.

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini was disappointed to see his side squander two winning positions in defeat to Aston Villa but insisted the Premier League title remains an achievable objective.

The former Malaga coach watched on as his side conceded three times in the space of 25 second-half minutes in Birmingham, as Leandro Bacuna, Karim El Ahmadi and Andi Weimann secured a memorable victory for the hosts.

 

However, while reiterating his belief that City could yet finish as champions, Pellegrini insisted his players will take each game as they come as they look to bounce back with a win against Everton next weekend.

"We’re not thinking about the title at the moment, we’re thinking about winning the most amount of matches," he said at his post-match press conference. "Playing the way we’re playing I’m absolutely sure we’re going to be fighting.

"I think that we are very strange conceding the first goal which was offside. The second goal wasn’t a free kick and the third goal was drawing 2-2 and at that moment we were going forward.

"I think that we have a lot of chances and a lot of possession. I think we have clear chances to score but we didn’t and we were twice up so I was twice disappointed with that."

Paul Lambert, meanwhile, expressed his delight at his side's resilience to come from behind but rejected notions their third goal proved they were a long-ball team in light of Brad Guzan's strong influence in the play.

"I thought that was brilliant vision from Brad the way he's done it," the Scot said. "He's got to execute that and he's got a hell of a kick on him. It's not a long ball as in we have kicked it long.

"I don't play the game for Brad. He sees things through his own eyes and I'm not one to tell Brad Guzan how to get the ball out the net and how to distribute it. If I did that I don't think he would thank me for it.

"It's a fabulous achievement against Manchester City because the magnitude of the club and the players that they've got. What's really impressive is that we managed to come back twice against them."