Pellegrini is wrong: Man City vs Leicester is hugely important
Published:
Manuel Pellegrini has been playing down the importance of Manchester City’s upcoming clash with Leicester City.
The Citizens welcome the league leaders to the Etihad on Saturday hoping to close the three-point gap at the top of the table, but the Chilean boss is playing down the magnitude of the game.
Going into the encounter, the Mancunians are 4/7 favourites to beat the table-topping Foxes, who are priced at 19/4.
Speaking in the pre-match press conference, the 62-year-old said: “It isn’t the biggest game of the season so far.
“The Premier League doesn’t finish here. There are a lot of points to fight for.”
Of course, Pellegrini could be playing some kind of managerial mind games and not really believe this sentiment, but the fact still remains that this is a massive game.
Claudio Ranieri’s men would go six points clear with a win and, given the disparity between both sides’ upcoming schedule, this would have a massive say on where the Premier League title ends up.
The Foxes only have the league to focus on and know they only have 14 matches remaining, while the picture is less clear for Pellegrini’s squad.
City are still contesting the League Cup, the FA Cup and the Champions League along with their top-flight duties and this could lead to some fixture congestion.
The Citizens could end up in a position where they have to play 28 matches and being significantly behind Leicester while fighting on all fronts would make a title challenge nearly impossible.
In terms of league run ins, there’s not too much to separate what the Premier League top two have in store and that too plays in to Leicester’s advantage.
Both have to face Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea before the end of the season, but, crucially Leicester will get more of break inbetween matches.
Therefore, it would be wise to back the Midlanders for Premier League glory at 9/2.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
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