Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini said on Saturday he believes his side were jolted into action by their derby humbling at Manchester United last month.
City have won four in succession since their underwhelming season reached its nadir with a 4-2 thrashing at Old Trafford, a result that prompted fresh speculation about the futures of the manager and several players.
Having slipped to fourth in the Premier League, there were even concerns City could miss out on the Uefa Champions League positions.
Whether or not that set alarm bells ringing at the Etihad Stadium, those fears have been banished following an upturn in form that has put City back in control of the race for second place, with them being three points clear of third-place Arsenal.
Pellegrini accepts complacency may have crept in this term but, while not disguising his overall disappointment with the campaign, is pleased the team have recovered some of their intensity.
“It was one of the problems, but it was not just the only problem,” he said.
“We will analyse the season when it finishes, but I think it is important to understand you must play every game with 100 per cent intensity. In the Premier League it is very difficult to win.
“For our team it was always our target to win the title, until the moment the mathematics said we couldn’t do it.
“In that moment, four games ago when we lost against United, maybe a lot of the media thought we were out of the Champions League. That is why it is so important to finish the season winning and in second place.”
Pellegrini warned that nothing could be taken for granted as City look to continue their winning run at Swansea City on Sunday.
The Welsh side are still in contention for a place in the Europa League and should be buoyant after Monday’s defeat of Arsenal, a result that did City a favour in their push for second place.
“They have a very good season, they are playing well and they have an important amount of points,” Pellegrini said.
“They are fighting to try and reach one position in the Europa League next year, so I think it has been a very good season for them and surely they will want to finish the same way.
“They like to play good football so it is not surprising the position they are in.”
A win on Sunday has Swansea right in the mix for the Europa League and winger Nathan Dyer said he believes they can continue their good run of form at the expense of Pellegrini’s side.
“They are a very strong side, but as we’ve seen this season they can be vulnerable,” Dyer said.
“They’ve lost against lesser teams this season, so we will make sure we do our research to ensure we know what we need to do to stop them and exploit their weaknesses.
“Hopefully we can come away with another three points like we did at Arsenal.”
Garry Monk, the Swansea manager, said: “It’s going to be tough but it’s perfect because it’s such a big game.
“They have their own agenda, but we are in good form and want to end our home season on a high.”
Defeat to Arsenal could mean having to qualify for Europe
Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal hopes to avoid a “tricky” Uefa Champions League play-off by beating Arsenal to third place in the Premier League.
Arsenal and United used to fight each other for titles, but advantage in the race for third place is on the line when the two teams lock horns at Old Trafford on Sunday.
Although Arsenal have a match in hand, defeat at Old Trafford would mean they drop to fourth place, one point behind United.
Van Gaal knows how hard it can be to qualify for the Champions League through the preliminary stages, having squeezed past Skonto Riga with Barcelona in 1997, and is keen to avoid another difficult play-off.
“We can say we have qualified for the Champions League, but that is not true,” the United manager told MUTV.
“Maybe Liverpool cannot chase us any more but we have to play a game before the entrance into the Champions League and that game is always tricky. It is not easy.
“There are not existing any easy games any more.
“We can give pressure to Arsenal and that is what we want to do on Sunday.”
Van Gaal watched on with angst as his star-studded Barca team struggled past their Latvian opponents 18 years ago.
Despite the presence of the likes of Luis Enrique, Pep Guardiola and Luis Figo, Barca went 1-0 down to Skonto at the Nou Camp and needed a last-minute winner from Hristo Stoichkov to edge the first leg 3-2 before taking the return fixture 1-0.
Even if United finish fourth and have to play in the qualifying round, Van Gaal is still proud of his work in his first season at the club.
He inherited a side in the summer who had finished seventh under David Moyes, who was fired in April last year, and he said developing a squad he was happy with had proven to be tough.
“It was a big challenge because when I came here, a lot of players were here,” he said.
“I let a lot of players go. We have let more than 15 players go and we bought only five players and we did it with a different team as the year before.
“We want to be the champion. Now at the end we want to be third because it is still possible.”
sports@thenational.ae
Follow our sports coverage on Twitter @NatSportUAE
