Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini was confident that his side would be fully rested after their trip to Moscow but has warned his side against complacency against West Ham.
The Hammers have not enjoyed their recent encounters with City, including a 9-0 thrashing on aggregate in the Capital One Cup in January.
However City’s Saturday lunchtime opponents currently sit fourth, just four points behind the Blues, and Pellegrini expects a much tougher challenge.
“They have different players and are playing in a different way to last season,” said the Chilean manager. “They brought in two important strikers who are doing well.
“I don’t think last season has any relation to this season. This is a different moment for both teams so I don’t think we will repeat the same score as we did in the Capital One Cup.”
The Manchester side threw away a two-goal lead on Tuesday night against CSKA Moscow, but the 61-year-old City manager had no concerns about any after-affects from the performance.
“We created enough chances to win the game, but there was a lack of concentration in the second half,” he said.
“We have enough time to recover though because we’ve had three days, compared to other times where we’ve had to do it under 72 hours.”
However, Frank Lampard misses out on the chance to play against another former club as he has failed to recover from a thigh strain picked up against Tottenham.
Pellegrini was once against tight-lipped over the future of Lampard, whose parent club New York City are rumoured to be holding a training camp in Manchester in January, when Lampard’s loan deal expires.
“The one thing is not related to the other, whether New York train here or not,” said Pellegrini. “For the moment, Frank is here at Manchester City.”
Main image courtesy of Manchester City FC via YouTube, with thanks.
