Manuel Pellegrini has hailed Manchester City’s recent form as a “miracle”, though he believes that plenty of hard work has played a key role.
The Premier League champions have won eight consecutive matches in all competitions, qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League and moving level on points with Chelsea at the top of the table.
That form has been maintained despite injuries to the likes of David Silva, Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero and Pellegrini feels that what his side have achieved in recent weeks has been earned.
He said: “I don’t know what Chelsea will think. I know three weeks ago we were nine points behind and close to elimination out of the Champions League and we were a team that depends just on Sergio Aguero.
“So I think that maybe this is a miracle, but the miracle has a name and it’s ‘work’.”
City impressed with their 3-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday despite fielding a side without a recognised striker as James Milner was deployed as a lone front man.
Pellegrini’s side saw off stubborn opposition and, though he admits it is a not a system which he will be looking to utilise in future, the Chilean insists goals must be shared by the whole team not just forwards.
“If you review what we did last season, a lot of goals were scored by midfielders and full-backs,” he said.
“We have a style of play where we involve all of the players in attacking and, after that, we also try to have all of the players defending.
“It’s not easy to play without a striker but I assure you that we had a whole week to prepare where we practiced at creating the space, knowing Crystal Palace were a difficult team.
“I don’t think it’s a system we’ll adopt in the future. This team works very hard during the week so we can change our style of play.
“Normally it is better for me to play with one striker or maybe two strikers in some moments so it’s important to have the capacity to change the style of play in one week.”
