Manuel Pellegrini targeting 88 points for Manchester City retain Premier League crown

Pellegrini targeting points for man city

Manuel Pellegrini has set his Manchester City players a target of 88 points to retain their Premier League crown.

City, who take on Leicester on Wednesday night, remain five points behind Chelsea - who have a game in hand - following a 2-1 defeat at Liverpool.

But Pellegrini believes 88 points could be enough to clinch the title this season - which would mean City winning all of their remaining 11 games.

"It's three points dropped and of course it makes it more difficult to reach the top of the table," said Pellegrini.

"But we can still make 88 points and we won our titles with 89 and 86 points, so we must try to continue, to win the next game and as many as we can, and we'll see where we finish.

"Eleven games is a big chunk of the season that we have left to play, and many things can happen in that time.

"We will never give up the race for the title until it is impossible, but we must try to improve our play first, and after that win our next game."