Manuel Pellegrini has warned his side not to rest on their laurels and ‘keep adding points’ if they hope to win the Premier League – despite thrashing a timid United side 3-0 last night.
A double from Edin Dzeko and a late Yaya Toure strike means City have now won three consecutive games at Old Trafford for the first time in 24 years.
The reigning champions were behind after only 43 seconds as a Samir Nasri shot rebounded off the post and into the path of Dzeko who slotted home.
The Bosnia and Herzegovina striker doubled his tally in the second half, blasting a shot into the United net from a corner before Toure sealed an emphatic win with a goal in the final minute.
The result moves the Citizens just three points behind league leaders Chelsea with two games in hand but Pellegrini is not getting carried away.
“It was important psychologically because it’s one of the three matches we had postponed against a great team like United,” he said.
“We must play the other two at home – if we keep recovering points against Liverpool and Chelsea – we are now four points up on Arsenal, so it’s very important to keep adding points.
“We have to play nine games more, you cannot know how many points you need to win. It’s important to keep playing the way we did today.”
Even with two games in hand City must travel to the Emirates this weekend as well as go to Anfield to face title rivals Liverpool.
The Chilean praised his team for their ‘compact’ defence against United, an area of City’s game he has criticised in the past, which dealt well with the threat of United’s forward players.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart was called into action only four times as City recorded their fifth-successive clean sheet for first time ever in the Premier League.
“I think that we really did a very good performance in all senses,” Pellegrini said.
“We scored three goals, we had three or four more clear chances and I really don’t remember one single clear chance United had to score.
“We were a very compact and aggressive team from the beginning and we started for the three points from the first minute.”
Image courtesy of MCFC, via Youtube, with thanks
