Manchester City News: Pellegrini Refuses to Give up on Premier League Title Race

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini insists that his side are still in the Premier League title race despite their recent defeat at Liverpool further widening the gap between themselves and Chelsea.

The defending English champions 1-2 defeat against the Reds at Anfield means that the Blues now have a very good chance to increase their lead at the top of the Premier League from five to eight points.

Although many believe that the Citizens' hopes of successfully defending the league title is over, Pellegrini feels his side still has a chance and they will "never give up."

"I think we never give up about the title," the Chilean told The Guardian. "We must try to improve our play first and after that try to win our next game. You never know in football what will happen."

However, the former Malaga boss admits that City's task will be "more difficult" due to there being only 11 games remaining in the Premier League.

"It is more difficult when you have less games and you continue with the same points but I don't think the team can think about that."

Meanwhile, Pellegrini explain the reason behind his side's defeat at the Etihad on Sunday.

"In the first half we lost too many balls, especially in the first 15 minutes. After that we equalised and then hit the post through [Sergio] Agüero. But in the second half we didn't arrive in their box so we tried to change our style of play," he added.

"There were a lot of problems. There were two goals from Liverpool, very good goals in the top corner. It was a close game. Liverpool played very well and they deserved to win."

The 61-year-old Chilean, who says he is "concerned" about City's recent run of results, admits that City are not being able to deal with the pressure.

"I am concerned about the whole team. We were playing very well in the last two [league] games, Stoke and Newcastle," added the Chilean.

"We start this week against Barcelona [losing 2-1] and then today: it was not our team, we cannot lose so many balls with the technical players we have. I'm concerned that we are losing the ball too much – pressure is a factor. There is much we must analyse to improve."

Still Pellegrini insists that City need to "continue playing the normal way" and make a comeback in their next Premier League fixture against Leicester City on Saturday.

"It is important to try and continue playing the normal way. We will see in the reaction in the next game. I hope that the team will recover and we can win on Wednesday. Every point we drop is more difficult."