Manchester City travel to St. Mary’s Stadium to face Southampton in a bid to stay in the top 4 in the Premier League.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini is adamant on getting his side to finish as high up on the table as possible in what will be his final year with the club. The Citizens will face a Southampton side equally determined to make sure they qualify for the Europa League next season.
Speaking about his opponents in his pre-match press conference, he said “The best way to play well on Wednesday is to play well and win on Sunday. Southampton are a team that in the last three years are doing very well; they have very good players.”
He praised the work of the Saints manager, saying “They sold a lot of players this season and it’s a merit to Ronald Koeman that they are doing so well.”
Providing injury updates on his key men, the Chilean said, “David has a small hamstring injury so he will not be fit for this week, he needs two or three weeks to recover. Yaya starts working today (Friday). We’ll see the way he improves through the weekend, we’ll see if he’s fit on Wednesday.”
He also said that Samir Nasri was fit and will be in the squad for the game as he didn’t face any problems while working this week. Pellegrini welcomed back Raheem Sterling after a muscle injury and said that he would feature for some minutes, further adding, “If we have the best of him for the next four or five games, we’ll be happy.”
With City facing Madrid midweek in the Champions League semifinal, Pellegrini was always expected to make changes. He said, “I said before we knew we were going to play eight games in 30 days, which is a lot for this squad so I’m making rotations in every game we play.”
“I always say if you want to be involved in all the competitions you have to have a strong squad, not just in the team with 11 players. I think it is very important to have an ambitious and winning mind. That is why we always demand the best performance of all our players.” (via gaurdian)
Manchester City have already made history this season with their first ever Champions League semifinal. In order to make some more, City’s players will certainly have to play at their best. There could not be a better send off for the Chilean than winning the European cup.
