Manchester City’s Champions League hopes out of their hands

Manchester City were held to a draw by Arsenal on Sunday afternoon, and it’s left them hoping clinging on to a top-four place in the Premier League. The Sky Blues twice surrendered a lead at the Etihad Stadium, and they could be leapfrogged in the table by fierce rivals Manchester United if they win their game in hand this week.

Manuel Pellegrini’s men are currently fourth in the Premier League table with 65 points from 37 this season, but have been in poor form of late which has allowed United back into the Champions League equation. They have drawn two and lost one of their last four games, and could be one point adrift of the Red Devils going into the final game of the campaign.

Manchester United are just one place and two points behind City with a game in hand, but still have a task to get a result away to West Ham. Louis van Gaal’s side will take confidence from having beaten the Hammers at Upton Park in the FA Cup only last month, so they could spark a remarkable turnaround and cause a high-profile omission from the Champions League next season.

Despite the likelihood that City could well be missing out on the prestigious tournament, manager Pellegrini remained defiant that his side can keep their place in the top-four. “It’s not finished. When things are not in your own hands you need to depend on other teams, but in football you never know, we will have our heads up and not give up until the last day,” he said.

“We need to wait for the Manchester United result, then we will think about our last game which we need to win. When you don’t depend on yourself it’s more difficult. It was not the way we wanted to finish the season at home. We deserved to win this game (against Arsenal), we played very well for 90 minutes, but in football you must score the goals,” Pellegrini added.

Manuel Pellegrini will be leaving the club in the summer and his legacy will be greatly tarnished if he caps it off by leading them to their lowest league position for a number of years. Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola is replacing him ahead of the 2016/17, but will the Spanish coach be forced to play in the Europa League? Could Manchester United still slip-up this week to hand the initiative back to City?