Manuel Pellegrini is gearing up for a long and arduous fight for the Premier League crown after Manchester City moved to the top spot with a 1-0 home victory against Crystal Palace.
Edin Dzeko’s second-half goal was enough to secure an unconvincing win over the Eagles and moved City to the top of the table to the first time since the opening day.
Manager Pellegrini now believes consistency is the only way his side will stay there with a host of chasing teams waiting for them to slip up.
“There are six or seven teams that will continue fighting for the title to the end,” Pellegrini said.
“Of the last eight games we have won seven and drawn one and recovered the distance Arsenal had on our team, but we continue next Wednesday and the second half of the season will be very difficult for all of us.”
Pellegrini criticised Palace’s defensive tactics as they became the first league side to concede less than two at the Etihad, despite Palace creating several good chances.
The manager blamed the substandard performance on the gruelling festive schedule, with City playing their second game in three days, with a trip to Swansea on January 1 also to come.
“Before the match I said when we finished against Liverpool, 48 hours it is impossible to recover for players,” he added.
“We didn’t have our team fresh and it is very difficult when just one team want to play and the other just wants to defend so that was the game we saw today. That is not what we are used to doing at the Etihad.”
Image courtesy of MCFCtv via YouTube, with thanks
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