Pellegrini refuses to give up on Manchester City's title hopes

City is 15 points off table-toppers Leicester City - though it has played a game fewer - but is still mathematically in with a shot of lifting the trophy for the third time in five seasons.

Published : Apr 08, 2016 20:11 IST , Manchester

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini
Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini
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Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini

Manuel Pellegrini says Manchester City is refusing to throw in the towel in the Premier League title race.

City is 15 points off table-toppers Leicester City - though it has played a game fewer - but is still mathematically in with a shot of lifting the trophy for the third time in five seasons.

And Pellegrini insists he will not give up hope of finishing his career at the Etihad Stadium with another title.

"The only thing in the moment we can do is win our games. That's our mentality," said the Chilean.

"We have a lot of points to recover - it's not easy for all of the teams above us to lose points but we won't give up and we'll keep trying while it's still possible.

"It's a big game against West Brom at home - all the teams around us are playing against each other; Arsenal versus West Ham and [Manchester] United v Tottenham, so it's more important than ever not to drop points at home.

"I'm sure tomorrow we need to make good moments in attack to create the space, but also be careful as they have good players on the counter-attack. We must not think just about attacking but to defend well too."

Pellegrini also rejected suggestions that City could be distracted by its looming Champions League quarter-final second leg with Paris Saint-Germain next week.

"Everyone said last week at Bournemouth that we could be thinking about the Champions League but we did very well and that gave us trust for Wednesday - it will be exactly the same tomorrow," he said.

City will be without David Silva for the West Brom clash, with the Spain international being rested due to an ankle problem, but Pellegrini is hoping to welcome back Yaya Toure, who missed the 2-2 draw with PSG.

"For the squad list tomorrow, not involved is David Silva - he has a problem with his ankle. Raheem Sterling and Vincent Kompany are also missing," he said.

"It's a small problem for Silva - he's [been] playing with this pain for a lot of games and it's too soon for him to repeat another game so soon after the last.

"Vincent is improving. He's not working with the squad for the moment so we'll see next week how many days more. Raheem has started running again but he needs a couple of weeks more.

"Yaya started working yesterday with the squad - he's recovered from his knee injury. He's in the squad list and we'll see tomorrow whether he'll start or play some minutes.

"We'll see tomorrow which players have recovered best and which can repeat. Maybe we will make changes to refresh the team but all of the players who are 100 per cent will play."

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