"Intelligent bosses don't play mind games" - Pellegrini takes swipe at Mourinho

Manuel Pellegrini has told title rival Jose Mourinho: ‘Intelligent managers don’t play mind games.’

Chelsea manager Mourinho has consistently maintained that his side are not leading contenders to win the Barclays Premier League despite the fact that they have topped the table for several weeks.

And he went one step further on Saturday, claiming it is now impossible for his team to win their first title since 2010 following their shock 1-0 defeat by Crystal Palace.

But City boss Pellegrini insists Mourinho’s psychological tricks will not wash, saying: ‘I don’t think other managers can be giving any importance to those mind games.

‘I don’t know if you think managers who play mind games are more intelligent? I don’t think so.

‘I don’t respond to it because I don’t know what he says. It’s not my duty to respond to what Mourinho says. I don’t know the way that he thinks.’

City left back Gael Clichy concurs with his manager. ‘From the first game of the season Mourinho has been declaring the same thing,’ said Clichy. ‘We’re not surprised and, to be honest, we are not focused on who is losing or who is winning.

‘We just know that if we do the job then we have a fair chance of achieving something good this year. Anyone can speak his mind but we know what we have to do.’

City could not take full advantage of Chelsea’s slip-up at Selhurst Park, managing only a draw against fourth-placed Arsenal on Saturday.

But they have two games in hand over Chelsea and Liverpool, and will lift their second title in three years if they win their final eight matches.

That is easier said than done, according to Pellegrini. ‘My way of thinking is that the four teams will have the same options to win the title,’ he said.

‘The other teams have 18 points more to win, six games more. We have eight games more.

‘We have to win those points. We don’t have six points, we have two games extra to play — it’s not the same thing.

‘Do I regret the points we dropped away from home earlier in the season? I don’t think at this moment it is important. It is too far away to start thinking or talking about those games.

‘If you look at the whole season I think we are the second team in terms of points playing away. We can only influence what happens in the future.’