Pellegrini bemused by lack of Aguero plaudits

Manuel Pellegrini says it is strange Sergio Aguero has never been regarded as the best player in the Premier League after his hat-trick helped Manchester City to a 3-0 win at Chelsea.

Sergio Aguero took his tally for the league season to 21 goals with his treble at Stamford Bridge on Saturday.

Manuel Pellegrini says it is strange Sergio Aguero has never been regarded as the best player in the Premier League after his hat-trick helped Manchester City to a 3-0 win at Chelsea.

Aguero took his tally for the league season to 21 goals with his treble at Stamford Bridge on Saturday - completing the hat-trick from the penalty spot as City maintained their four-point lead over rivals Manchester United in the race for Champions League football.

Argentina international Aguero has yet to win a PFA Player of the Year award since joining City in 2011 and is not nominated for this campaign's prize.

Pellegrini told Sky Sports: "He [Aguero] is the best striker of this league, he's a very important player, it's strange that in so many years he's played here he's not the best player of the league."

On City's overall performance, Pellegrini added: "I'm satisfied because I think the team played very well in attacking and defending. When we have all our players fit and playing all of them together, it's another team.

"We knew before the game that Chelsea would be difficult but we also wanted revenge for the FA Cup game we had to play here with a young team and they beat us 5-1.

"I think tonight was a complete game and very important points for the Premier League because we want to finish as near to the top of the table as we can.

"I think it was a big performance for the team when you have good performance of your team because you also have very high individual performances. Not only Kevin [De Bruyne] and Aguero, I think [Eliaquim] Mangala also played very well, Fernandinho played very well, Jesus Navas worked lots."

City face Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on April 26 but Pellegrini is focusing solely on upcoming domestic encounters with Newcastle United and Stoke City.

Pellegrini said: "The best way to arrive to a semi-final is when you are winning your games, not only winning, winning the game in the way we did tonight because I repeat it was a complete team performance without the ball and with the ball.

"The most important thing is to have our minds focused on the Premier League. We play the Champions League in more than one week."