The Chilean's title hopes took a big blow at the Etihad as Claudio Ranieri's men ran out comfortable winners and the Chilean says his side can have no excuses for their defeat
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini dismissed the notion Pep Guardiola's forthcoming arrival as his replacement had any impact on Saturday's 3-1 home defeat to Premier League title rivals Leicester City.
The Chilean confirmed on deadline day he would be leaving the club at the end of the season with the club subsequently confirming Guardiola would take over the reins at the Etihad.
Pellegrini then watched his side's title hopes take a blow with a 3-1 defeat at home to Leicester but rejected suggestions the Spaniard's impending arrival had anything to do with the ineffective showing.
"I think that I talked too much about last week, focusing on that thing, and I don't think it is fair to try and have excuses," he told reporters.
"I have finished talking about those things. I do not want to answer any questions more about that.
"It would be very easy for me to say 'yes' [it has affected the players], but that is not the truth."
The City boss was also quick to praise Claudio Ranieri's side but admitted he was not impressed with his side's defending.
"A lot of things. We played first against a very good team. It's fair to give them merit because they are playing well in a very good moment," he added.
"After that, we defended very badly – especially from set-pieces, where we conceded two goals. We were doing very well on that in the last game [a 1-0 win at Sunderland] but today we did it very badly.
"With a lot of possession we didn't create too many chances, except from in the last 20 to 25 minutes of the first half, where we had some chances to equalise.
"At the beginning of the second half, again two minutes and again another goal. We did it all worse than Leicester."
- Goal