Manchester City slumped to their eight defeat in all competitions this year after they were crushed 4-2 by their local rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.

The win takes Louis van Gaal’s side four points clear of Manuel Pellegrini’s team in the Barclays Premier League table as the defending champions remain in fourth spot behind United who are in third as they now have to battle for a Champions League place.

Pellegrini now looks to be under immense pressure as he faces the risk of losing his Etihad Stadium job and City’s Under-21 team coach, former Arsenal midfielder Patrick Vieira, has been touted as the man who could step in as an interim manager just in case the Chilean gets fired.

City, who were joint top of the table on New Year’s Day, are now fighting to finish in the top-four after losing six of their last eight games in all competitions and Pellegrini has publicly admitted that the spirit within his squad is a concern ahead of next Sunday’s home game against West Ham United.

“Maybe it is something we can be concerned (about),” Pellegrini said after United had beaten his lacklustre side to end a run of four successive derby defeats.

“The spirit of the team does not seem the real spirit but we must try to continue playing the way we did for the first 20 minutes.

“It is the same team. We must improve and I hope when we win again the team will recover their trust.

“We are concerned to try and win the next game. We have to play six games more. We were the whole year in the first or second position.

“United and Arsenal have to play against Chelsea. We have 18 points more to play so we must not try make it a dramatic moment. We now have two games at home, we must try to recover from this defeat.”

Meanwhile, City sources maintain that Pellegrini is unlikely to be sacked before the end of the season



source: http://www.allsoccerplanet.com/2015/04/patrick-vieira-to-replace-pellegrini-at-city/