Saturday 26 December 2015 09:20, UK
Manuel Pellegrini remains unfazed on his future as Manchester City boss, despite reports that Pep Guardiola may be set to replace him.
The Chilean is preparing his team, third in the Premier League, for the Boxing Day visit of Sunderland and he had to field more questions about the possibility of seeing the City reins handed to Guardiola, who last week revealed he would leave Bayern Munich in the summer.
"I am just thinking about winning against Sunderland. For me, it doesn't matter if I continue or not," the 62-year-old said.
"You continue trying to have my answers about the future. How can I tell you how another person will think about the situation? It's very difficult, it's impossible. What I know is that for me, it is very good to win the title.
"It's very important to win. You demonstrate what kind of manager you are, and after that you can have another club that maybe they win the title and are sacked. It's a matter that for me is not important really."
With six points separating Man City from leaders Leicester, it is important they keep up the pressure in front of their home fans with three points against strugglers Sunderland.
Skipper Vincent Kompany is poised for a recall after eight games out with a calf injury and with striker Sergio Aguero recovered from a heel problem and Pablo Zabaleta and Fernando also in the frame, the squad seems to be in good shape to push on at the start of the new year.
It is a huge boost for City who have lost five of their first 17 league games, and Pellegrini stated: "We need Vincent, but this team doesn't depend on one player.
"It seems that we have a crisis but we don't have a crisis. We are in all the competitions and we did that without a lot of important players. But, of course, with all the players fit and playing every game, we are the strongest team.
"Vincent has had a long recovery. We hope that he will not have more problems in the future. It is very difficult to know if he will have them or not but we are going to be optimistic and hope we can have the captain for the rest of the season."
Playmaker Samir Nasri, who is expected to be out until the spring after a tendon operation, is now the only major absentee.
