Manuel Pellegrini believes his Manchester City players have the spirit and ambition to retain the title this season after the most impressive victory of their defence to date knocked the wind from Southampton.

City managed their first win at St Mary’s since 2003 – when Robbie Fowler and Paulo Wanchope had scored – with a trio of second-half goals despite being reduced to 10 men by the dismissal of Eliaquim Mangala 17 minutes from time. The visitors ended the contest with nine after Vincent Kompany limped off with a hamstring injury as they leapfrogged their hosts into second place.

The champions still trail Chelsea by six points but the resounding nature of this victory, following on from nervier home wins over Swansea and Bayern Munich in the Champions League, has breathed new belief into their pursuit.

Ambition

“I think we can complain about a lot of things in this team during this year, that we have been conceding too many goals and not scoring as many as last season,” said Pellegrini.

“But the only thing we cannot complain about is the spirit, the personality and the ambition of this squad.

“I am very pleased with this result because we beat a very strong team. They were second in the table before today and deserved to be in that position.

“They have defended very well all season, so to have beaten them 3-0 was very impressive. They created just one chance in the whole 90 minutes and another clean sheet is important for the trust in our team. Scoring three times against the best defence in the division is also important.

“I repeat today exactly what I said last week after Swansea: there is a long way to go. Now we have to play 25 games more, so that is a lot of points [to compete for]. No one knows what will happen in the future and, in one week, you can change things. Chelsea are playing very well at the moment, but let’s see what happens in the future. We just have to work on us.”

The Chilean indicated he may use Martin Demichelis and Dedryck Boyata, with Bacary Sagna another option, in the centre of defence at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland on Wednesday if medical tests suggest Kompany has sustained damage rather than suffered cramp in his hamstring.

Pellegrini defended his forward Sergio Agüero, who was booked for diving early on in the contest despite José Fonte appearing to foul the Argentinian as he wriggled into the penalty area. “The one thing I was sure about was Sergio never dived,” he added. “He doesn’t try to cheat the referee. But the least important thing in this game is to talk about that penalty. If it had been a 0-0 draw we’d talk more about that, but we won the game and scored other goals.”

Impressive

A decision will be made at some stage in December as to whether Frank Lampard, who scored the fifth goal of his loan spell from New York City, will be retained beyond January, with the veteran’s impact as a substitute once again impressive.

“I haven’t spoken to City yet, but it’s nice if they are saying that [they would like him to stay],” said the former England midfielder. “We’ll see what happens. We all look at the table during the week, and we are disappointed with where we are for a club like City. But we have to keep winning, keep moving forwards and go game by game.”

“No one can be surprised to see the way Frank Lampard plays his football,” said Pellegrini. “Maybe, at 36, he’s not able to play three games in a week, not 90 minutes every game, but he played against Bayern on Tuesday and did well, and he always makes a difference because he’s a top player. He’s a great professional and person, and very happy here in our team. He also enjoys the way we play and always makes a difference in the last 25 or 30 minutes.”

Guardian Service