Sport

Pellegrini’s perfect week: Manchester City follow up derby delight by exorcising Wigan cup demons

By Alex Lanigan

A perfect week for Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini came to a resounding end last night as the Blues thumped Wigan 5-0.

The Chilean began his week with an impressive away win in the Champions League and followed this with a spectacular victory over title rivals Manchester United in the derby.

City’s week has been rounded off with a revenge victory against Wigan in the League Cup – the side that defeated City in the FA Cup final last season.

The third round demolition of Wigan saw summer signings Stevan Jovetic and Jesus Navas open their accounts at the club and City’s boss was happy that the new boys got on the score-sheet.

“I spoke with the players before this game, telling them we must always try and play in the same way as we did on Sunday,” he said in his post-match press conference.

“We can change names but, for me, it was important to see today the same team we saw on Sunday – the same philosophy, the same intensity and of course, scoring 12 goals in a week is very important.”

Yaya Toure was once again integral at the heart of City’s midfield and added to his impressive goals haul with another free kick effort – much to the delight of his boss.

“Yaya is an excellent player – if he adds goals from free-kicks and in open play like last Sunday, I think it’s important for us,” the Blues manager added.

“We are always practising, Yaya stays normally after our daily work to practice free-kicks. He’s in a good moment – it’s not normal to always score with free kicks.”

The Tuesday clash saw the return of Micah Richards and Gael Clichy to first team action.

Edin Dzeko continues to look rejuvenated under the new manager and opened the scoring in the first half, before Jovetic scored two either side of Toure’s free kick before Navas added a fifth late on. 

Image courtesy of MCFC via YouTube, with thanks

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