Manuel Pellegrini: Title battle starts in February

Manuel Pellegrini wants his Manchester City team to be in prime position to launch their title charge from February.

City are third in the Premier League at Christmas, six points behind leaders Leicester and four adrift of second-placed Arsenal.

They started the season superbly, quickly establishing themselves as favourites with five consecutive wins during which they did not concede.

But form since has been patchy and momentum has slowed, with Monday’s loss at title rivals Arsenal their fifth defeat of the campaign.

Pellegrini says he is not overly concerned, claiming merely staying in touch is all that matters at this stage.

The Chilean said: “I think it’s very important to be involved, as we are now, at the end of January. If you can be leaders before then that is better, but I think you need to be there on the last day of January. Then, in the last three months, you can win the title.”

City travel to Leicester on Tuesday for another big clash but must first negotiate Sunderland at the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day.

Pellegrini said: “We need to focus game by game. The next game is Sunderland and we must try to beat them here. That’s never an easy game.

“Only after that do we think about Leicester. It’s very important to win these two games to finish off the first round (of fixtures).

“We lost important points against Arsenal. I said before the game that it was a game of six points but it was not a decisive game. I repeat that you never win the title in December.”

Pellegrini says the Arsenal loss is already consigned to history and he has no intention of raking back over it.

Yaya Toure, who scored City’s reply in the 2-1 defeat was criticised for not exerting his influence until too late but Pellegrini does not want to respond.

He said: “When you lose a game the winners take it all and the losers are always doing bad things, so I don’t want to try to analyse that game.

“The first shot Arsenal had at our goal was on 33 minutes. We had dominated the game (until then). Maybe we were not that aggressive but we had two or three chances to score and I think the team played in that sense – and Yaya is involved in the team.

“I never criticise just one player, I try to analyse the performance of the team. But I don’t want to analyse because we lost.”

City could have captain Vincent Kompany back against Sunderland after eight games out with a calf injury. Right-back Pablo Zabaleta and midfielder Fernando are also back in contention.

Meanwhile Sunderland boss Sam Allardyce insists he is under as much pressure as Manchester City counterpart Manuel Pellegrini, if for vastly different reasons.

The two men will be in direct competition at the Etihad Stadium on Boxing Day with Allardyce desperately trying to drag the Black Cats out of yet another scrap for Barclays Premier League survival while for Pellegrini, only silverware and Champions League progression count.

Sunderland currently sit in 19th place in the table having collected 12 points from their opening 17 games, five adrift of derby rivals Newcastle in 17th, while City’s 3-1 defeat at Arsenal on Monday evening left them six points shy of surprise leaders Leicester and four worse off than the second-placed Gunners.

Allardyce said: “They are two different pressures, two totally different pressures, but all meaning the same thing. We have to get results to stay in the league and they have to get results to stay at the top of the league.

“We are faced with the types of pressures that come with being talked about as relegation candidates week in and week out, about people being dissatisfied with our performances, which if you lose football matches, is going to happen.

“You have got to start winning football matches. [Chelsea boss] Jose’s [Mourinho] dismissal is a testament to that, isn’t it? It’s all about winning and at the top end for Manchester City, it’s all about them realising their expectations.

Allardyce, who will be without key defender Younes Kaboul through injury, has presided over nine games since replacing Dick Advocaat and has recorded three victories and six defeats, a return which has left him short of where he had hoped to be at this stage.

He said: “I would have expected us to have at least 15 points or more by this stage.”