Pellegrini: You can’t beat a Premier League title

Manuel Pellegrini has fired a shot at his critics.

Those who believe Manchester City should now be measured by Champions League success have been told that winning the Premier League again would be more satisfying for him.

And as his team attempts to keep up the pressure on leaders Chelsea against Arsenal this afternoon, he warns that it would be a mistake to assume that it’s become a two-horse race for the title.

“The Premier League reflects more your work, so it is more satisfying for a coach to win it,” he says. “And once you’ve done it, you want to do it again.

“You don’t exactly have to be lucky to win the Champions League, because you also need to have a very good team but you do need a little bit more luck to do it.

“You can play very well and have one unlucky game in the knock-out stage and you are out of the competition.

“I think for our fans, the Premier League is more important because it shows more what a team did over 38 games.

“But for the media, especially the foreign media, the Champions League is more important. I believe for this team it is very important to continue winning domestic titles.

“So of course it’s important to try to win the Champions League because that’s what major teams must do. But we should not make the domestic games secondary to it.”

Pellegrini’s team start today 11 points better off than the Gunners, but he doesn’t believe that the gap between the top two and the rest is yet wide enough to rule out an upset.

“Maybe the chances of winning the title are better for us and Chelsea because we have more points,” he says.

“But when you have a mathematical chance to win the title as teams like Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool and Southampton have you can still do it.

“So, no, at this moment I don’t think it’s between the two of us. We have a better chance, that’s all.”

The Chilean, who has added £28m Wilfried Bony from Swansea to his squad, is convinced that City will be stronger on the run for home than they were in the first half of the campaign.

“Normally with the teams that I manage, the second part of the season is better than the first part, and I hope that is what will happen again,” he says.

“Maybe it’s the way we work every week. But if we want to win the title, we must try to win every game. It is impossible to win it with just a team. You need a squad.

“You see how many injuries we have not only us but every club and the suspensions. You see how many games there are in the year.

“It is very important to have a strong squad with two players in each position. You need competition between them because it gives a high performance.

“This year I think we are a stronger squad. We bought a good goalkeeper in Willy Caballero, we brought in Bacary Sagna, Eliaquim Mangala and now Bony because we always need to have four strikers.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean that we are going to win the title but it gives you the best chance.”