Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini was never going to wade into the controversy surrounding his Chelsea opposite number Jose Mourinho prior to the visit of the Premier League champions on Sunday.
Pellegrini isn’t the kind of man to stoke the controversy that has filled column inches this week after Chelsea’s club doctor Eva Carneiro and physio Jon Fearn were axed from the bench by the fiery Portuguese following an apparent injury incident with Eden Hazard in the dying minutes of Chelsea’s 2-2 draw against Swansea.
He did allow himself a wry smile when he said: “I have a way of managing teams and staff and I don’t pretend to give rules to anyone.”
Referring back to the incident between Mourinho and Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger at the end of the Community Shield, he added: “I will shake hands with Jose Mourinho – I may have differences with him but I will always shake hands with him.”
Despite a good record against Pellegrini in Spain and England that has seen his Chilean rival win only twice in 13 meetings the heat may indeed be on Mourinho this season if another Chelsea misstep sees them five points behind City by Sunday evening.
The Portuguese hasn’t spent extravagantly to strength Chelsea during the summer, as they be missing suspended ‘keeper Thibaut Courtois who was sent off last Sunday but Mourinho did buy experienced ‘keeper Asmir Begovic for this very reason.
In comparison, City have been doing business throughout this summer with their first marquee signing Raheem Sterling due to start against the Blues despite missing a couple of presentable chances during City’s excellent 3-0 victory over West Brom at the Hawthorns on Monday.
Pellegrini declared that Sterling would prove his worth despite the price paid for him.
He said: “For any team he would be a very dangerous player. We have been criticised for the price we paid for him but I am sure he will demonstrate why clubs wanted him.
“I am sure Raheem will score more goals than he has done before. I don’t have a target but I am sure he will score more goals every year. He scored 11 for Liverpool last season.”
Pellegrini confirmed that Fabian Delph (hamstring) and Fernando (groin) would miss the Chelsea game this Sunday while Gael Clichy (ankle) would be assessed before the game.
The Chilean wasn’t prepared to comment about rumours regarding Kevin De Bruyne or Diego Godin but he did pay tribute to Edin Dzeko who left the club to join Roma on loan for the season with a view to a permanent deal which could end up netting the club a total of £10.8m.
He said: “Edin was a very important and successful player here, he won two Premier Leagues, the FA cup, and the Capital One cup. We were very happy with him.
“Sometimes the group needs a change and he went to an important club in Rome.
“For the moment we have here Wilfried Bony, Sergio Aguero, Sterling, and Kelechi Iheanacho as options. The fourth striker must be a young player to use as an option to see if he can play in the Premier League and that’s Kelechi.”