Manuel Pellegrini confident his job as Manchester City manager is safe

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini says he will not face the same fate as Roberto Mancini and says he will not be axed from the top job. Pellegrini is under growing scrutiny as City's season threatens to unravel and hopes of finishing top of the league start to disappear.

City have fallen six points behind Chelsea, who have a game in hand, after a run of just three wins in nine games.

Their hopes of salvaging some silverware from the campaign now seem to come down to the unlikely prospect of overturning a 2-1 deficit at Barcelona in the Champions League on Wednesday.

"Roberto left the club for other reasons, not because he didn't win anything one year. It's not 'if you don't win, you're out,” Pellegrini told The Daily Mail and Guardian newspapers

"Of course winning trophies here is extremely important. I understand you can't just say, ‘It doesn't matter, we'll come in fourth or fifth because we've got a long-term project'."

"But in the last four years this team has won two leagues, come second once, and won the FA Cup and the Capital One Cup. I have never felt the situation is that if I don't win I am out whatever happens."

Pellegrini had his player purchasing limited to £49m last summer as punishment for the club's failure to comply with European governing body UEFA's Financial Fair Play restrictions.

"This year we improved the squad while working within those limits,” Pellegrini said.

“What we did not do was bring in a crack (player). I think this team now needs a crack, another special player just to give us that sense that we are now at another level."