City's Pellegrini rues missed chance in title battle

LONDON: Rarely does a visiting team leave Stamford Bridge with anything to show for their endeavour, but a 1-1 draw with Chelsea on Saturday was nothing to celebrate for Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini.

In a game billed as a title-decider between the Premier League's two dominant sides, City fell behind after Loic Remy's 41st-minute opener.

David Silva hit back four minutes later and the visiting side finished strongly and could have gone on to win the game.

The draw brought an end to Chelsea's 10-match winning run at home in the Premier League, but maintained their five-point lead over City at the top of the table with 15 games remaining and 45 points to play for.

"You may say it is a good point at Stamford Bridge but for me it is not because we were better than Chelsea," the Chilean told reporters.

"I thought that we deserved more than a point because we had clear chances. Our team tried to win from the first minute to the end.

"We wanted to close the gap. We tried to, but we couldn't but we still have 45 points to play for."

City clawed back a nine-point deficit last season to win their second Premier League title in three years, but against a formidable Chelsea, the current five-point gap may represent a bigger challenge.

While Saturday's result was far from ideal, Pellegrini was confident his side could retain their title.

"It was a very important game but it was not a final," he said. "We have time to recover these five points and if we play in the way we played today it will be easier."

Chelsea mustered just three shots on Saturday, their lowest total in a Premier League game since the 2003-2004 season and commanded just 43 percent of possession as City were able to dictate much of the game away from home.

"I think both teams have a clear style of play," Pellegrini added. "Jose Mourinho has a style for Chelsea and I have a style for my team.

"We had three good chances in the first half, they scored with their only chance in the 90 minutes -- they did not even have a shot in the second half."