Manuel Pellegrini praised the depths of his squad as he looked ahead to the rest of the season after his sides 4-0 victory over Crystal Palace.
Sergio Aguero scored twice in between efforts from Fabian Delph and David Silva, as Manchester City secured a comfortable victory at the Etihad to end the weekend a point behind Arsenal and Leicester with 16 games remaining.
The City manager is now hoping the likes of Aguero can stay fit for the remainder of the season so his side can thrive in all competitions.
“One of the merits of the squad is to be involved in all competitions,” he declared.
“If from now to the end of the season, we have top players, our team will be stronger.
“We were without important players in the first part of the season. With all of our players 100% fit, our squad will be stronger but for different reasons, we couldn’t play with Silva, Aguero or Vincent Kompany.
“We must be able to win games regardless – that’s why I was so happy with the complete squad from the beginning.”
Aguero seemed to be nearing his best form on Saturday, as he scored against the Eagles for the first time in his career.
This means he has now scored against 25 of the 28 different opponents that he’s faced in the Premier League.
The Argentine’s double also means he has bagged 88 goals since coming to the Premier League in the summer of 2011, 10 more than any other player in that period.
Despite the impressive performances from the likes of Aguero and Silva the City fan’s man of the match award went to Delph after his long-range opener.
The midfielder was making only his third Premier League start for the blues after his controversial summer move from Aston Villa.
However Delph was pleased to be able to make a contribution for the team, while he also echoed Pellegrini’s sentiments of the strength within the squad.
“It’s always great to get to play. We have a fantastic squad so we are able to rotate and it was my turn today to go in,” Delph said.
“I think I needed to put in a good performance to help the team and thankfully, I’ve done that.
“I got the stadium man of the match award, but in my opinion there were five, six, seven or eight top performances out there.”
Image courtesy of MCFC via YouTube, with thanks.
