Eyeing the Premier League: Pellegrini challenges City to produce yet another late surge

Sky Blues won their last two titles in 2012 and 2014 after bridging similar gaps at the top

NORWICH: Only the most faithful of Manchester City supporters would bet on Manuel Pellegrini ending his reign as manager with another Premier League title, but today’s trip to Norwich at least offers the chance to strengthen their hold on a top-four spot.

Pellegrini’s side has been consistently successful against the teams towards the foot of the table this season and maintained that record by beating Aston Villa 4-0 last Saturday, ending a run of three successive league defeats.

City are 10 points behind leaders Leicester, albeit with a game in hand; and their belief they can still overturn that deficit lies in the fact they have made late runs to win the title in two of the last four seasons.



Under Roberto Mancini in 2012, City were eight points behind Manchester United with six games left, yet finished top.

And two seasons ago, Pellegrini’s team were nine points behind Liverpool with five games to play — but with two matches in hand — and ended up two points clear at the end of the campaign.

“I think it is important not to think about how many games we need to win,” said Pellegrini, who will be replaced by Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola at the end of the season. “It’s just important to try and win the next game. From now until the end of the season, we must be focussed on each game and try to win.”



What has counted against City is their inability to beat the better teams in the division. Of the 50 points Pellegrini’s side has claimed this season, only nine have come from the 13 matches they have played against sides currently in the top half.

They have tended to beat the teams at the bottom, though, which is why a trip to Norwich offers them reason for optimism.

Alex Neil’s side will kick-off in the relegation places having taken just one point from their last nine games.

The Canaries, promoted via the play-offs last season, last won on January 2 when Southampton were beaten 1-0.



That game was followed by City’s 3-0 win at Carrow Road in the FA Cup and Neil soon saw his players throw away a 3-1 lead to lose 5-4 at home to Liverpool and allow West Ham to come back from two goals down.

The Scot was adamant, however, that if Norwich do go down it would not be through a lack of effort. “I don’t think anybody could say about my players that they are not trying or that they are giving up,” he said. “In the last few games these guys are losing teeth and getting gashed heads, and they keep going and they keep trying. I am working as hard as I possibly can to make it work.”

Neil also praised the Norwich fans. “The fans have been in great form, they have stuck with us, we have not given them a lot to shout about,” he said. “There is no reason for the fans to back us as much as they have done because we have not given them much, and that disappoints me greatly because I want to do well for this club and for them.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 12^th, 2016.

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