Manuel Pellegrini warns Man City players ahead of 'dangerous' Manchester derby
Friday 18 March 2016 16:09, UK
Manuel Pellegrini has warned his Manchester City players ahead of their "dangerous" derby match against Manchester United on Super Sunday.
City welcome their local rivals to the Etihad Stadium - live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 3.30pm - with both sides fighting to secure a top-four finish and qualification for next season's Champions League.
A victory for United would bring them within a point of City and land a potentially telling blow to Pellegrini side's faint chances of catching current leaders Leicester.
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"Always a derby is dangerous. It doesn't matter the position of both teams. If it's a derby of the Premier League it is doubly dangerous," Pellegrini said.
"Both teams will try to arrive as near the top of the table as they can for the next season."
City will be looking to return to winning ways in the Premier League after being held to a goalless draw by relegation-threatened Norwich City at Carrow Road last Saturday.
The result left City 12 points behind Leicester with only nine matches of their season remaining.
If West Ham claim victory at Chelsea on Saturday, City will kick-off against United outside of the Champions League qualification spots in fifth place.
But Pellegrini insists he will not give up in his pursuit of a second Premier League title.
He added: "In football when you have a mathematical chance you cannot think you cannot do it. That is not a winning mind. You must always think you must do it.
"The more points you lose it's more difficult, but you must have the mentality to win the next game and after that you will see which team has the most points."
