City boss refuses to feel blue

MANCHESTER City boss Manuel Pellegrini has played down the significance of last night’s 1-0 defeat by title rivals Chelsea.

The eagerly-awaited clash was decided by Branislav Ivanovic’s 32nd-minute left-foot strike and gave City their first home league defeat of the season — and their first nil-score at home since November 2010.

“For Chelsea it was a decisive game, not for us,” said Pellegrini. “If we won we were six points ahead of them. Now we are two points behind Arsenal. We have 39 points to play for. Nobody is thinking about records, we are just thinking about winning the games.”

Meanwhile, Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is happy for his evolving team to be in touch with the title race, but insists Arsenal are the favourites with his side behind City in third.

“A victory is a victory but a victory against a very good team is better than a victory against an ordinary team,” said Mourinho.