Manchester City vs Leicester City: Of course the Foxes can win title, says Manuel Pellegrini

Should Leicester City come through this weekend's encounter, the most extraordinary title triumph since Nottingham Forest won the old First Division in 1978 might be very hard to prevent

Manuel Pellegrini is furious City might have to play Chelsea three days before a Champions League match in Kiev (AFP)

There was a time when Manuel Pellegrini stood where Claudio Ranieri now finds himself, leading a challenge for a title that once seemed wildly improbable.

Villarreal are based in a town the size of Darlington, but in 2008 they split Real Madrid and Barcelona to finish second in La Liga. The man who manages perhaps the wealthiest club in Europe knows what can be done when a small team drives for the line.

Should Leicester City come through this weekend's encounter with Pellegrini’s Manchester City, the most extraordinary title triumph since a newly-promoted Nottingham Forest won the old First Division in 1978 might be very hard to prevent.

“They can do it,” said Pellegrini. “I don’t think we can keep talking about a surprise and we can’t keep thinking Leicester won’t be involved in the title race until the end.”

In several senses Pellegrini’s Villarreal and Ranieri’s Leicester were different. Villarreal were never in front, as Leicester find themselves. Their rise was also more gradual. Pellegrini had taken them to third place in La Liga in 2005, albeit 19 points adrift of the winners, Barcelona. They reached the semi-finals of the Champions League the following season.

Nevertheless the language he used in the dressing rooms of El Madrigal was the same as Ranieri and his team would employ in the bowels of the King Power Stadium. “I always told the players that we must believe in what we are doing because the results are there to prove it,” he said.

“It was not fortune that we played the way we did and won so many games. There are different ways for a manager to talk to his players but my way is to tell them that they must believe that it is not fortune, it is work that has brought them success.”

Pellegrini believes Leicester have an edge because they are only competing for the league. He was, however, furious at the suggestion City’s fifth-round FA Cup tie at Chelsea should be played on a Sunday, 21 February, which would force his squad to fly directly to Kiev for their Champions League tie with Dynamo on the Wednesday.

City would prefer to play on Saturday but the Metropolitan Police will not allow Chelsea and Fulham to play on the same day – and Fulham are at home to Charlton. Should the Football Association not relent, Pellegrini said he would be forced to field a very weakened team. “My duty is to do for this team what I think is best and, if we play on Sunday, I think it’s better not to play with professional [first-team] players.

“Of course, it would upset me to play a weakened team. My way is to try to play every competition with the best team. The FA Cup is a serious competition and not one we can throw away. But at this moment, with so many injured players and the chance to get to the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time, it is a case when we are going to prioritise.”

As he spoke, the televisions in City’s press room were relaying Pep Guardiola’s press conference from Munich. The fact that one man will replace the other at the Etihad Stadium is a cause for obvious stress. Pellegrini said that while he loved City, it was a job and one which he knew had to end.

Guardiola, at Bayern Munich’s training ground, was rather more agitated: “I am like a woman, I can do both things simultaneously,” he said, answering questions as to how he would manage Bayern while preparing for the Premier League.

“Coaches get little respect these days,” he added. “It is like that everywhere – in Madrid, Barcelona, Germany and England. There are respectable papers here who have not asked me a single question on football in three years.” Guardiola will discover they exist in England too.