Ivory Coast striker Wilfried Bony believes Manchester City must strive for maximum points from their remaining 11 Premier League fixtures to have any chance of catching leaders Chelsea.
Manuel Pellegrini’s defending champions play struggling Leicester City at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday trailing Jose Mourinho’s team, who have played one match less, by five points.
And Bony concedes City’s hopes of retaining their crown are slender.
“It makes it very difficult now. If Chelsea win (their game in hand), it’s very difficult to get close to them,” said Bony.
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“There are still 11 more games and we have to hope they drop more points.
“Not every game is the same. We have to concentrate on winning the rest of our games and getting maximum points because it’s more difficult than before.
“We need to win on Wednesday and then keep winning, it’s difficult for us but we still hope we can do it.”
Bony, who signed for City for £28 million (DH 158m) from Swansea City in January, is still waiting to make his first start for his new club.
He was used as a substitute in the 2-1 defeat by Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday as Pellegrini’s team failed to cut the gap on Chelsea, who went on to lift the League Cup later that day.
The Chilean manager has the task of lifting his players to avoid another slip-up against bottom-placed Leicester.
However, Pellegrini says City will not surrender their Premier League crown and must focus on getting the job done against Nigel Pearson’s side.
“I think we never give up about the title,” Pellegrini said.
“We must try to improve our play first and after that try to win our next game. You never know in football what will happen.
“It is more difficult when you have less games and you continue with the same points but I don’t think the team can think about that.
“The team must think about how we can win the next game.”
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The team
Videographer: Jear Velasquez
Photography: Romeo Perez
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Make-up: Gulum Erzincan at Art Factory
Models: Meti and Clinton at MMG
Video assistant: Zanong Maget
Social media: Fatima Al Mahmoud
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if you go
Getting there
Etihad (Etihad.com), Emirates (emirates.com) and Air France (www.airfrance.com) fly to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, from Abu Dhabi and Dubai respectively. Return flights cost from around Dh3,785. It takes about 40 minutes to get from Paris to Compiègne by train, with return tickets costing €19. The Glade of the Armistice is 6.6km east of the railway station.
Staying there
On a handsome, tree-lined street near the Chateau’s park, La Parenthèse du Rond Royal (laparenthesedurondroyal.com) offers spacious b&b accommodation with thoughtful design touches. Lots of natural woods, old fashioned travelling trunks as decoration and multi-nozzle showers are part of the look, while there are free bikes for those who want to cycle to the glade. Prices start at €120 a night.
More information: musee-armistice-14-18.fr ; compiegne-tourisme.fr; uk.france.fr
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