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Manuel Pellegrini says only Man City were set up to win in crunch clash with Chelsea

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Manuel Pellegrini believes his Manchester City side were the only team willing to take any risks

Manuel Pellegrini believes Chelsea did not set out to win from the beginning against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

The title rivals drew 1-1 on Saturday to leave the gap at the top of the Premier League at five points in the west London side's favour.

David Silva equalised late in the first half after Loic Remy's opener for Chelsea, but City had more of the chances in an encounter with little goalmouth action.

And Pellegrini says his side took risks in an attempt to win the game, but believes there is too many games left to come to conclusions about the title race.

The only chance Chelsea had they scored, we had the more clear chances.
Manuel Pellegrini

"We played a very good game, there was one team that wanted to win from the beginning," he told Sky Sports.

"The only chance Chelsea had they scored, we had the more clear chances.

"I am very proud with our team that we have the personality to come here in this difficult stadium against the best team maybe in this moment in the Premier League and try to win from the first minute to the end."

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Pellegrini described how his side couldn't cut down Chelsea in the second half because the hosts had "nine players in the box", with Jose Mourinho's side registering only three efforts on goal.

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He added: "I think that we take the risk to try to win, I don't want to talk about what Chelsea did, you must analyse after.

"I think we wanted to win and we played most part of the second half in their half and had no difficult moments in defending.

"Defending with nine players near their box is difficult to create, we tried but couldn't score the second goal."

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