Porous City need Kompany return for title fight – Pellegrini

Arsenal sealed their supporting role behind Leicester in the Barclays Premier League Christmas billing by beating fellow title hopefuls Manchester City 2-1 at the Emirates Stadium on Monday night.

Aguero then made way for Wilfried Bony having lasted a little over an hour on his latest comeback from injury and Toure gave City a lifeline as he guided a measured left-foot finish past Cech with eight minutes remaining.

Pep Guardiola is to leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season and will be replaced by Carlo Ancelotti.

Bony was then asked if it summed up where he was in Pellegrini’s thinking if he was dropped as soon as Aguero was deemed fit enough to start.

The manager’s decision came as a shock to Bony, who has displayed excellent form since Aguero limped off with a heel injury against Southampton on November 28. He hasn’t played for a couple of weeks. “As a player I couldn’t realise my dream to play there (in England) but I hope in the future, I have a challenge to be a coach or a manager there”, Guardiola said in an interview to mark the 150th anniversary of the English FA two years ago. The coach does what he thinks is best for the team. The club already have an old friend of Pep’s in a senior role at the club Txiki Begiristain, who was brought in from Barcelona and City do have the necessary financial strength to buy Guardiola any players he wants. He has to choose 11 players.

Bony, 27, arrived at City from Swansea in January for a fee of £28 million ($41.5 million; 37.9 million euros) but has only started 10 league games in that time.

Former Manchester City defender Danny Mills has claimed that Manuel Pellegrini’s position as manager of the club is being undermined by ongoing speculation linking Pep Guardiola to the Etihad.

City have lost five league games in total this season but have not been beaten when Kompany has taken to the field.

He continued: “In the second half we took more risks, we created a lot of chances, we had more possession, we had lots of shots but in a match this important you can’t make mistakes”.

Pellegrini said: “We played better than Arsenal in the first half”.

“Pep Guardiola will work in England, I don’t know if it is next season at City or at another club”. Maybe there are a lot of rumours – not only this season but going back to the other seasons – but the only pressure I feel is the pressure I put on myself to win.