Manchester City failed to close the gap on leaders Chelsea as both teams managed a victory this weekend.
City set the bar early on with a convincing 3-0 win over 10 man West Bromwich at home. Chelsea followed this up with a nervy and close fought 3-2 victory over Hull City at the KC stadium. Both were different victories, but more crucially it represented one less match for Chelsea. The blues have a six-point advantage with nine games remaining in the season. City have a slightly easier fixture list with only matches against Tottenham and Manchester United looking threatening.
The blues, on the other hand, have trips to the likes of the Emirates while home matches against Manchester United and Liverpool are also awaiting the club. Due to this aspect, Pellegrini believes that the title is not won by Chelsea just yet. He expects the blues to slip up between now and the end of the season. City’s job is to close the gap whenever Chelsea drop points. They have failed to do this sufficiently in the second half of the season, as both teams were level on New Year’s Day. Especially in the last 10 matches, City have managed only four league victories.
“I don’t think they’re a winning machine all the time. I’m sure from now until the end of the season every team will drop points, so it’s important to return to our normal performance and win our games.After that we’ll see what happens with Chelsea. Maybe we can win all the games and maybe we can retain the title. The important thing is they must feel pressure.If you don’t win, it’s easy for them. We depend now just on these last eight games to at least finish in the same position we are now,” said Pellegrini.