Manuel Pellegrini says Man City victory was all the more important this weekend
Sunday 10 April 2016 08:03, UK
Manuel Pellegrini says the fact that Manchester City's top-four rivals all play each other this weekend makes the 2-1 win over West Brom all the more vital.
City's victory came courtesy of Samir Nasri's winner after a seven-month absence from the starting line-up with a thigh injury, meaning his side are now four points clear of Manchester United in the race for fourth, with United in action at Tottenham on Super Sunday.
Third-place Arsenal drew 3-3 with sixth-place West Ham on Saturday lunchtime, and Pellegrini believes the narrow victory gives them a slight mental advantage in the race for the top four.
Pellegrini told Sky Sports: "It was very important because as I said before the game, this weekend all the other teams involved with us play between them.
"We knew before the game it would be difficult because West Brom always defend very well. Starting 1-0 behind was more difficult.
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"I'm very happy [for Nasri] because he's had a long injury and has been very unlucky all season. We know that when he plays with technical players like Yaya [Toure], Kevin [De Bruyne], Kun [Aguero], David [Silva], our team changes.
"I put players in that are very technical players and they started playing together and of course the play of the team changed absolutely."
City host PSG in the Champions League quarter-final second leg on Tuesday with the scores at 2-2, and Chilean Pellegrini gave an update on some of his key players.
"We'll see, Yaya just worked two days after he stopped for around two weeks for his knee problem.
"He just started working so he's not 100 per cent. We assess Vinny [Kompany] tomorrow and Wednesday. David [Silva] does not have any problem.
"Aguero had a kick but there is not a problem for Tuesday."