Manuel Pellegrini: 'We must respond to defeats'

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has admitted that his side will need to improve on their recent displays to beat Southampton on Saturday afternoon.

City have suffered defeats to Liverpool and Juventus during the past seven days, and Pellegrini has said that his team cannot afford another below-par display against the Saints at the Etihad Stadium.

The Chilean told BBC Sport: "It wasn't a good week for us - we lost two games.

"Against Liverpool it was an ugly defeat and then against Juventus we improved a little bit but it was not the result we wanted.

"Southampton are having a good season, they're unbeaten away and they have good players. We'll need to play well to win."

Three points on Saturday afternoon would see City regain top spot in the Premier League standings ahead of the fixture between Leicester City and Manchester United.