Man City 1 Crystal Palace 0: Manuel Pellegrini defends Citizens after win

Manuel Pellegrini insisted Manchester City must have “different faces” if they want to win the title after a hard-fought win against Crystal Palace.

The Citizens had to wait until the 66th minute before making the breakthrough when Edin Dzeko scored his 50th City goal at Etihad Stadium.

I think the team that wants to win the title must have different faces

Manuel Pellegrini

Palace had chances to score through Jason Puncheon and Mike Jedinak, and the Eagles produced a total of nine shots on Joe Hart’s goal at Eastlands.

But City manager Pellegrini defended his side’s performance against the London side.

“I think the team that wants to win the title must have different faces. We usually score lots of goals at home but after 45 minutes we knew it would not be like that,” Pellegrini told BBC Sport.

Edin Dzeko admitted it was one of City’s toughest home games of the season after netting the winner at Etihad Stadium.

“It was a hard game, maybe the toughest at this stadium in the Premier League this season. It was the last game of 2013 and we wanted to finish with a win.”