Manuel Pellegrini reacts to Jose Mourinho’s “lucky” jibe

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini refused to be drawn into a war of words with Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho, telling reporters that his side will do their talking on the pitch.

Mourinho has been vocal in his criticism of City in the build up to tomorrow’s game between the two sides, but Pellegrini resisted the temptation to reply to his opposite number’s comments and preferred to talk about his own side, warning his rivals that City are getting better and better.

“I think that the most important thing is to do your talking on the pitch when you play,” said Pellegrini.

“Every manager can do whatever he wants but, for me, I have my own way of doing things.

“I do not know what Mourinho has said about us and I have no comment to make about him. I always tell my players that it doesn’t matter who we are playing or whether we are home or away.

“What is important is that we try our best from the beginning, that we have a winning mentality and that we work well with and without the ball.”

The two sides have already met this season, with Joe Hart’s late mistake gifting Chelsea a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge in September, but Pellegrini believes that his squad is improving as the season goes on.

“In the last match against Chelsea we made a very important mistake and we lost the game but we have improved since then. All the statistics say we are improving but I have told the players that they must continue to improve,” continued the Chilean.

“We are not invincible, no team is invincible. We are in a very good moment but the difference between a win and a loss is so slight, in every match it is possible you can lose.

“In December we won nine games and drew one – same in January – but in December we scored 26 and conceded 12, whereas in January we scored 32 and conceded just nine. All the statistics say we are getting better.”

City have picked up 94% of the available points over their last 12 Premier League games.