Manuel Pellegrini feels there is still plenty of time for his Manchester City team to overhaul leaders Chelsea in the race for the Barclays Premier League title.
City’s 5-0 win over Newcastle United at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday cut the deficit to Chelsea to five points, after Jose Mourinho's men had been held to a 1-1 draw by Burnley.
The champions' convincing win represented their first success on home soil in four attempts and provided further evidence of a welcome return to form following a 4-1 victory at Stoke City in their last outing. City came from behind late in the season to claim each of their two Barclays Premier League titles to date, in 2011/12 and 2013/14, and Pellegrini remains optimistic of similar success this term.
"I'm very pleased because we returned to being a scoring team here at home and also because we didn't concede goals," he told BBC Sport. "Of course if the other teams drop points it's better for us, especially Chelsea because we don't depend on just what we can do.
"All the other teams are behind us in the table, so it doesn't matter what they do if we continue winning. If we want to continue fighting for the title, we need Chelsea to drop more points, but we have to play [for] another 36 points more, so that's a lot of time."
City striker Edin Dzeko believes in-form team-mate David Silva is the best player in the Barclays Premier League. Silva scored twice and set up Dzeko with a lofted pass, which was expertly controlled and dispatched into Tim Krul’s goal by the Bosnia striker.
"The pass from David was first-class ... and for me he is the best player in the Premier League," Dzeko told Sky Sports. "To have him here with us is an amazing thing, because with David you can always score goals."
Dzeko was preferred in attack to Wilfried Bony, the January signing who was available for the first time following his participation in the Africa Cup of Nations, and he played down the additional competition he faces for a place in Manuel Pellegrini's starting XI.
"We are all playing for one team and I don't see him [Bony] as competition for me," Dzeko said. "We all try to get results for Man City and he is very welcome. He will definitely bring much more to our team."
Carver rues slow start
Newcastle head coach John Carver acknowledged that his team's plans to contain City went "straight out the window" when Vurnon Anita conceded a first-minute penalty, that was converted by Aguero, one of three goals they scored inside the opening 21 minutes.
"All the plans that you put in place through the week go straight out the window," Carver told BBC Sport when asked about Aguero's opener. "We knew they were going to press us, straight from the kick-off. They put us under pressure. We didn't deal with it.
"You shoot yourself in the foot and it's an uphill task straightaway."
Carver expressed sympathy with Newcastle's travelling supporters.
"I don't think it was a lack of effort; we were just outplayed," he said. "We knew it was going to be tough, but it's so disappointing. We've got a group of travelling fans who've come all the way down here and within a minute you're one-nil down and within 12 minutes you're two-nil down.
"Away from home against one of the top sides, the defending champions, that's not good enough.”
Newcastle head coach John Carver acknowledged that his team's plans to contain City went "straight out the window" when Vurnon Anita conceded a first-minute penalty, that was converted by Aguero, one of three goals they scored inside the opening 21 minutes.
"All the plans that you put in place through the week go straight out the window," Carver told BBC Sport when asked about Aguero's opener. "We knew they were going to press us, straight from the kick-off. They put us under pressure. We didn't deal with it.
"You shoot yourself in the foot and it's an uphill task straightaway."
Carver expressed sympathy with Newcastle's travelling supporters.
"I don't think it was a lack of effort; we were just outplayed," he said. "We knew it was going to be tough, but it's so disappointing. We've got a group of travelling fans who've come all the way down here and within a minute you're one-nil down and within 12 minutes you're two-nil down.
"Away from home against one of the top sides, the defending champions, that's not good enough.”
source:http://www.premierleague.com/
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