Manuel Pellegrini praises Manchester City's resilience

An elated Manuel Pellegrini lauded his side's courage following its 2-1 victory over Watford on Saturday, a rarity for the always-reserved Manchester City manager.

Treading perilously close to dropping points at Vicarage Road and falling six points behind league-leading Arsenal, City snatched a vital win courtesy of goals two minutes apart from Yaya Toure and Sergio Aguero.

"We never give up, we have a lot of character," Pellegrini told reporters, according to the club's website. "We won the Champions League group in the same way."

The Chilean gaffer was selfless in his praise, but it was his own decision to sub on striker Wilfried Bony for centre-back Eliaquim Mangala in the 75th minute that altered the visitors' impetus. Midfielder Fernandinho dropped back into a defensive role, and the rest wrote itself.

"We were losing 1-0 so we had to take a risk," Pellegrini said. "A draw was not good for our team. It's not Fernandinho's positon, but he's an intelligent and tactical player and Watford were not going to attack too much."

The result was a deserved one for City, which, despite the Hornets' best efforts, was the better side over the 90 minutes.

"I think it was a close game and tough for both teams," Pellegrini said. "They are in a good moment and playing well. But if you look at the statistics I think we deserved to win, we had more attempts, more shots on target, possession, but against I repeat a very good team."