Pokerface Pellegrini keeps eyes on the prize

Arsenal 1 Man City 1

The Chilean remains favourite to be in charge of the eventual Premier League champions, even though they missed an opportunity to go top by drawing this compelling match.

But on the day when Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho said his side’s chances were buried by defeat at Crystal Palace, his Chilean counterpart refused to take the bait.

A former adversary of the Portuguese when they were rivals coaches in Spain, Pellegrini takes the cooler opinion that the Premier League is too competitive a league to predict the outcome of any matches, nor get too excited by events around him. Chelsea, City, Liverpool and even Arsenal to a far lesser extent can still win it in the next month or so, but he went as far to say as it was a sign of unintelligence to try to effect the outcome with words.

He said: “I do not know what Mourinho says. I don’t know the way he thinks, my way of thinking is that the four teams have the same option to win the title.

“I don’t think that important managers can give any importance to those mind games, and I don’t know if you think that managers who seem to play mind games are more intelligent.

“I don’t think so. It is not my duty to analyse what Mourinho has said. It is very close, all the other teams have a few points more, six games more (to play), we have eight games more. We have to win those six points (in hand).”

Pellegrini must have thought his side were destined to go clear at the top after they dominated the opening exchanges against an Arsenal side shell-shocked by the previous weekend’s six-goal drubbing at Chelsea and an insipid midweek draw with Swansea. But after taking an 18th-minute lead through the ever impressive David Silva, Arsenal recovered to have the better of the match. They equalised through Mathieu Flamini on 53 minutes and could have won all three points had Olivier Giroud or Lukas Podolski converted decent chances.

The performance, if not the result, was as important for Arsenal. A plot to display a ‘Wenger Out’ banner had been quashed by rival supporter groups in midweek and the obituary writers were poised in the stadium should Arsene Wenger suffer another heavy defeat.

The early signs were not good but instead of imploding like so many times before against top four opponents this season, Arsenal emerged the superior team and left to a standing ovation.

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny insisted afterwards the Arsenal players fully support Wenger in his 18th season as the club’s manager and are not distracted by talk of the coach being out of contact at the end of the season.

The Polish international did admit their title hopes are slim at best, however. He said: “It’s not in our hands anymore, that’s for sure.

“You have better days and you have worse days in this game. The boss has been around for so long, I’m sure he’s been through times much worse and got through them.

“We believe in him, he believes in us and I’m sure he will work for a long time.”

Wenger admitted it was an important response from his players after such a poor mini-run and he commented: “We have shown we can fight and be united, that we can respond to adversity and those are the positives of the day. The frustration we have is that we did not get the result we wanted.”

It was probably too little too late from Arsenal, but Wenger was clearly glad his miserable week was over. Now he can look forward to a trip to Everton, their closest rivals for a top four place, and an FA Cup semi-final with Wigan.

He concluded: “It was a very, very bad week.We have gone through a nightmare at Chelsea, and on top of that in the last second of the game after (Swansea) we scored an own goal. It has been very bad, but as well very positive because it is always an opportunity to show you have some mental strength and so I am very proud of my players because they have shown that.

“I think you can have a good technique and be committed as well. History is full of players who have both, and that is what you want from your players.

“It is a kind of real courage for me, to be available when you are insecure, to want the ball when the confidence is not there — when you are 3-0 up, everybody wants the ball.

“I remember Michel Platini told me once with the French national team that in the first 20 minutes everybody gave him the ball, but after we are 2-0 up then nobody gave him the ball anymore.”

There were some tired legs for Arsenal and ultimately the result served City better, but none of the 22 players could have been accused of not wanting to show for the ball and it was all the better a match for it.

ARSENAL: Szczesny 6; Sagna 7, Mertesacker 6, Vermaelen 7, Gibbs 7; Arteta 6, Flamini 8, Rosicky 7; Cazorla 7, Podolski 6 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 78); Giroud 5 (Sanogo 84).

MAN CITY: Hart 6; Zabaleta 7, Kompany 7, Demichelis 6, Clichy 6; Toure 7, Fernandinho 6, Navas 7 (Milner 64, 6), Silva 8, Nasri 6 (Garcia 80); Dzeko 6 (Negredo 84).

Referee: Mike Dean (Wirral) 6.