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Pellegrini: Title race just getting started

Gael Clichy struck Manchester City's third in their clinical win over Southampton © Getty Images

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Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini was delighted with his team's 3-0 victory at Southampton, which put the champions into second place in the Premier League and six points behind leaders Chelsea.

"I am very pleased because we beat a very strong team," Pellegrini said. "Southampton are a very strong team, with the best defence in the Premier League, and also they attack very well so to beat them 3-0 is very good."

Second-half goals from Yaya Toure, Frank Lampard and Gael Clichy took them past the high-flying hosts, and City survived a late sending off for Eliaquim Mangala.

Pellegrini has not given up on City defending their title.

"I repeat today exactly the same words as I said last Sunday when we beat Swansea," he said. "We have to play in that moment for 25 games. It's a lot of points. Nobody knows what happens in the future.

"Chelsea are playing very well. We'll see what happens in the future, and we must try to see what we do against Sunderland [on Wednesday]."

City have suffered a troubled start to their campaign but victory at St. Mary's continued a recent revival that included beating Bayern Munich in midweek.

"I think that we can complain about a lot of things. We are conceding too many goals, and not scoring the amount that we did last season, but the only thing that we can't complain about in the squad and that's the spirit, the personality, character, and the ambitions to continue."

Pellegrini refused to condemn referee Mike Jones for not giving a penalty for a clear first-half foul on Sergio Aguero by Jose Fonte.

Aguero received his first ever booking for simulation in the Premier League, and former referee Graham Poll told the Daily Mail it was one of the worst decisions of the season.

Pellegrini described the call as "unbelievable" but accepted the official's mistake as it did not cost his team.

"It was a penalty - not a yellow card," he asserted. "I told the referee he must decide whether it was a penalty or not but I was sure it wasn't a yellow card.

"First of all, Sergio never dives. He is a player who always tries to support the match. I know him and he never tries to cheat the referee or dive."

He added: "I think the less important thing that happened in this game to talk about is what happened with the penalty because we won the game and scored another goal. Maybe if we drew 0-0 then we can talk about that. The referee is a human person and everyone can make a mistake."

Pellegrini also leapt to the defence of Mangala, whose time at City has been unconvincing, and who received a second booking for a foul on Shane Long.

"I think that Mangala played very well today, it was a necessary foul," Pellegrini said. "He couldn't do more. He and [Vincent] Kompany played very well. Southampton have two important strikers and they had just one chance in the game."

However, City are also likely to be without Kompany for a spell after he was substituted with a late injury.

"We cannot know the situation at the moment," Pellegrini said. "He has a problem with his hamstring. We will see with the doctor how important it is but, at this moment, I cannot tell you exactly what he has. We will see."

Frank Lampard's goal raised further questions about the veteran staying on at City rather than heading to play for New York City in January.

"I will continue to answer the same question with the same answer," Pellegrini said, after the midfielder had refused to be drawn on the matter. "We are going to decide in December when we have to make the decision what happens with Frank.

"Frank is not only a top player, but a great professional also and a very good person. He is very happy here in our team, in the way we play. He enjoys the way we play because it is in the last 25 to 30 metres. He is very happy here and we are very happy with him."

This article originally appeared on ESPNFC.com

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