Manuel Pellegrini happy with gritty Manchester City

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has revealed how pleased he is that his side were able to scrape to a win against Crystal Palace despite not being at their best.

Edin Dzeko scored the only goal in a 1-0 home win against Palace on Saturday and Pellegrini said that it was frustrating to play against a team who he thought was parking the bus.

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

"We didn't have our team fresh and it is very difficult when just one team want to play and the other just wants to defend so that was the game we saw today," he told Sky Sports News. "That is not what we are used to do at the Etihad."

The result lifted City to the top of the Premier League.