Manuel Pellegrini has finally spoken out about winning the Premier League after Manchester City moved to within a point of title glory with a 4-0 demolition of Aston Villa.
It took 64 minutes before Edin Dzeko made the breakthrough but the Bosnian quickly grabbed a second, with Stevan Jovetic and a typically brilliant Yaya Toure completing the rout.
The Chilean has been coy on the situation all season but admitted that City’s second title in three years is now within touching distance – but he will not accept his side limping over the line.
“Now we can talk about title because if we win the next game we are going to win the title,” said Pellegrini.
“It’s very important not only to win the title but the way we are going to win the title.
“We have a style of play, we are an attractive team, we score many goals and we think we can score more goals.”
Despite City dominating the opening hour, they struggled to create clear-cut chances as the expectant Etihad crowd grew increasingly nervous.
That was until Dzeko got on the end of Pablo Zabaleta’s cross to send the home fans wild and they were put further at ease when he tapped in a rebound eight minutes later.
Jovetic then curled home just his third league goal of the season a minute from time to put a more positive spin on what has been a troubled debut season plagued by injury.
The same cannot be said for Toure, who still found time to put the icing on the cake by embarking on a 60-yard run before lashing home City’s 100th – and his 20th – league goal of the season.
Given their hugely superior goal difference over second-placed Liverpool, a point against West Ham on Sunday will be enough to seal Pellegrini’s first major European title.
Man-of-the-match Zabaleta however was more cautious in his post-match interview, calling on his teammates to remember the madness that surrounded the final-day victory over QPR in 2012.
“We know West Ham are safe but they have very good players,” the Argentinian told Sky Sports.
“They play really well on the counter-attack, they can score on set-pieces, so it’s going to be very, very tough, like tonight, so we can’t relax.”
Main image courtesy of Carl Recine/Action Images, with thanks.
