Pellegrini hails Silva quality

Manuel Pellegrini lauded David Silva after the midfielder scored twice in Manchester City’s 3-0 Premier League win over Crystal Palace.

The Spain midfielder struck twice in the second half on Saturday as the champions stretched their winning run to eight games in all competitions and moved level on points with leaders Chelsea – who play at Stoke City on Monday.

Silva was making his 200th appearance for City and marked the landmark in style, with Yaya Toure adding a third goal at the Etihad Stadium.

City were playing without a recognised striker due to injuries, so Pellegrini was delighted to see Silva produce the cutting edge his side had lacked in the first half.

“It was a very good win. A very good performance. I enjoyed the way the team worked the whole week – to work in a different way without strikers.” Pellegrini told the BBC.

“Palace are a team who know how to defend. It was a great job to score three goals. They are also dangerous on the counter. We had two clear chances in the first half – the way we had chances is by moving the ball.

“David Silva is a top player with lots of quality. We are not just Sergio Aguero, we work hard every day. We have strikers out and Vincent Kompany is injured.

“I did think December is a key month to be in the fight for the title, and if you want to be involved you must be very near the top of the table. I hope we continue playing like this.

“The fight for the title was not just one team. There are so many games in November and October. We must continue working.”

Palace midfielder James McArthur had a goal wrongly disallowed for offside when his side trailed 2-0 and they have now won only once in their last 11 games.