I knew about Guardiola appointment, says City boss Pellegrini

A victory for City would see them draw level on 50 points with Claudio Ranieri’s side, but ahead of them on goal difference with 13 matches of the campaign then remaining.

Even if City prevail in the title race Pellegrini will not be staying at the club to enjoy the success.

Pellegrini said: “If we continue in the FA Cup, we will have to postpone two Premier League games (later in the season), and there is no option to play those games in midweek”. There are still a lot of points.

“We have a lot of things to fight for”.

The seeds for Leicester’s dramatic rise were sown in their late charge away from relegation last season.

Press Association Sport understands the club will send a letter of complaint to senior figures at the Football Association and manager Manuel Pellegrini has threatened to field an under-strength team. They are playing with a very high performance, they have a team that works well together and they have an experienced manager.

Chelsea’s stunning fall from grace less than a year after winning the title has left them 16 points adrift of the top four in mid-table obscurity.

Manchester City next host another title rival in Tottenham, who inflicted a similarly humbling 4-1 defeat on them earlier in the season, while Leicester travel to Arsenal.

Pellegrini also tried to close down anymore questions regarding Pep Guardiola’s replacement of him as head coach on 1 July.

Before Monday’s announcement regarding Guardiola, it appeared this game would be all about first place in the table and the displays of City’s Sergio Aguero and Leicester’s Jamie Vardy, two of the division’s most in-form strikers. “I think that Leicester played better than our team”. “We did it all worse than Leicester”.

Nevertheless, Pellegrini refused to criticise the 32-year-old’s display or expand upon the reasons for sending the more defensively minded Fernando on in his place.

“I think that I talked too much about last week, focusing on that thing, and I don’t think it is fair to try and have excuses”, he said.