City’s Pellegrini rues missed chance in Chelsea title battle
Print Edition
RARELY does a visiting team leave Stamford Bridge with anything to show for its endeavor, but a 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday was nothing to celebrate for Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini.
In a game billed as a title-decider between the Premier League’s two dominant sides, City fell behind after Loic Remy’s 41st-minute opener.
David Silva hit back four minutes later and the visitors finished strongly and could have gone on to win the game.
The draw brought an end to Chelsea’s 10-match winning run at home in the league, but maintained its five-point lead over City at the top of the table with 15 games remaining and 45 points to play for.
“You may say it is a good point at Stamford Bridge but for me it is not because we were better than Chelsea,” the Chilean told reporters.
“I thought that we deserved more than a point because we had clear chances. Our team tried to win from the first minute to the end.
“We wanted to close the gap. We tried to, but we couldn’t but we still have 45 points to play for.”
City clawed back a nine-point deficit last season to win its second Premier League title in three years, but against a formidable Chelsea, the current five-point gap may represent a bigger challenge.
Far from ideal
While Saturday’s result was far from ideal, Pellegrini was confident his side could retain its title. “It was a very important game but it was not a final,” the Chilean said. “We have time to recover these five points and if we play in the way we played today it will be easier.”
Chelsea mustered just three shots on Saturday, its lowest total in a Premier League game since the 2003-2004 season and commanded just 43 percent of possession as City was able to dictate much of the game away from home.
“I think both teams have a clear style of play,” Pellegrini added. “Jose Mourinho has a style for Chelsea and I have a style for my team.
“We had three good chances in the first half, they scored with their only chance in the 90 minutes — they did not even have a shot in the second half.”
Mourinho, having canceled his pre-match press conference on Friday, again refused to speak to broadcasters or journalists on Saturday.
His boycott is thought to be a protest against the coverage of striker Diego Costa’s conduct against Liverpool in the League Cup in midweek.
The in-form striker has been banned for three matches for stamping on Emre Can in the semifinal victory.
Mourinho believes excessive media scrutiny played a key role in the Spain international’s suspension.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
