No truth in Man City exit talks, says Bony

Manuel Pellegrini believes the team that copes best with the pressure will win the Premier League title.

As mentioned above, West Ham come into their game with City having been beaten by Newcastle 2-1 at St James’ Park thanks to goals from Ayoze Perez and Georginio Wijnaldum, which cancelled out Nikica Jelavic’s strike – his first since joining the Hammers last summer.

That victory came in their last – a 2-1 come-from-behind triumph at Watford – and City go into Saturday’s clash against the seventh-placed Hammers on the back of a comprehensive 4-0 home thrashing of Crystal Palace last weekend.

Pellegrini expects a lower total to become champions this season, but he won’t mind as long as City finish top.

Manchester City: Hart; Clichy, Demichelis, Otamendi, Sagna; Yaya, Delph; Sterling, Silva, de Bruyne; Aguero.

For West Ham, they may want to concentrate passages of play through the middle with creative passing – something Payet may be instrumental to.

Manuel Pellegrini, although he is being treated as an afterthought these days, managed clubs like Villareal and Malaga very successfully, as well as being the man in charge at big clubs like Real Madrid and Manchester City, where he won the Premier League and Capital One Cup. West Ham have surprised many people this season pulling off incredible victories against Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City and Chelsea. Fresh from a stint on the sidelines with a heel injury, the Argentine scored the victor at Watford and he has found the net four times in his last five appearances in all competitions.

If City, now in third place, are going to climb the Premier League table and catch leaders Arsenal then they will have to improve their away form. “I have a contract so I’m happy and I think I’m at one of the top clubs in the United Kingdom”, the 27-year-old told the BBC.

But their results have been inconsistent, with those registered on the road particularly troubling for Pellegrini, the Blues winning only one of their past seven away league games.

“Vincent is seeing different specialists to learn more about his injury. He will start working, I hope, next week, but we will see”.

Pellegrini said: “We must try to arrive as soon as we can at the top of the table”.

“We know it won’t be easy because they are a good side with some very good players, many of whom are in a good moment”.

City need to be taking all three points in a tie like this to ensure they can challenge for the title.

“If you have good players and a good performance as a team I think everyone can beat another team”.