Manchester City manager Pellegrini douses talk of quadruple titles

Aguero's return to lineup leaves manager with pleasant selection headache

Sergio Aguero is back in the Manchester City lineup and scoring again, giving his manager a tough decision on who to start up front. Phil Noble / Reuters

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has played down quadruple titles talk and dampened excitement over his side’s remarkable goal output.

Pellegrini has voiced his ambition to win four trophies this season and his players, having notched up 99 goals this term, seem keen to deliver.

But as much as the Chilean is hoping for a glorious end to the season, he does not want anyone at the club getting carried away.

Pellegrini, whose side host Cardiff City in the Premier League on Saturday, said on Friday: “I think it is very important for all the players to know that the only important thing for us is to win.

“It is not useful for us to think what could happen in one month or more months. Tomorrow, if we win, we continue fighting for the Premier League. If we lose or we drop points at home, it will be very difficult to continue.

“I am absolutely sure that this Premier League will be very close with five or six teams in it until the end, and just one or two points difference, so I am just thinking about the game tomorrow.”

City head into the match at the Etihad Stadium second in the table by a point behind Arsenal.

Two cup performances have underlined their class in just over a week. City thrashed West Ham 6-0 to all but secure a place in the final of the Capital One Cup and then they hammered Blackburn 5-0 in an FA Cup third-round replay in midweek.

As they look certain to break the 100-goal barrier this weekend, City are averaging three goals a game and four in home matches.

Pellegrini has a looming selection dilemma in attack.

The prolific Sergio Aguero is now fit and scored on his comeback after an eight-game absence in midweek, but Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko are also in fine form.

Between them the trio have scored 56 goals this season.

Pellegrini said: “It is better for the manager to have difficult choices to select.

“They are three important players. Negredo and Dzeko are in a very good moment and Sergio is coming back from an important injury, so the three are very useful for us in this moment.”