Manuel Pellegrini claimed he does not fear the sack after Manchester City ’ s title hopes suffered a big blow at Crystal Palace . Palace piled the pressure on the Chilean with an outstanding win that was secured by goals from Glenn Murray and Jason Puncheon . It leaves City in fourth place , nine points behind Barclays Premier League leaders Chelsea , and sweating on qualification for next season ’ s Champions League . City , who hit back with a late Sergio Aguero goal , were furious that Murray ’ s opener was allowed to stand , feeling it should have been disallowed for offside , and they surrounded referee Michael Oliver to protest . Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini witnessed his side limp to a 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace . Pellegrini believes that Palace 's first goal , scored by stirker Glenn Murray , was clearly offside . Murray celebrates giving Palace the lead in the first half with a close range finish . The result places further uncertainty on Pellegrini ’ s future but he insisted he does not fear the axe . ‘ Am I concerned for my job ? No . I ’ m never concerned about my job , ’ said Pellegrini , who next up face rivals United at Old Trafford on Sunday . ‘ I do my work and am very happy . You maybe have a difficult season , but you never worry about things like this. ’ When asked about his players crowding referee Oliver after the first goal from Murray , Pellegrini , who felt his side should have been awarded a second-half penalty when Palace striker Murray handled in the box , replied : ‘ Because it was a clear offside . In the first minute , there was another clear offside . Jason Puncheon gave Palace a 2-0 lead against City when the midfielder scored with a superb free-kick . Puncheon 's goal proved decisive for Palace , who are now up to 11th in the Premier League table . Yaya Toure scored a consolation goal for City as they lost more ground on league leaders Chelsea . ‘ The mistake the referee can do , but there was also after that a clear penalty , and a lot of things happened in the game. ’ Pellegrini added : ‘ You ask me the same question every time ( about the title race ) and I give the same answer : we are not thinking about Chelsea and titles . We go each game and try to win . At the end of the season , we will see. ’ Palace manager Alan Pardew heaped praise on his side , who virtually guaranteed their top-flight status with victory . ‘ It ’ s a great night for us , fabulous for the club . We have 39 points on the board , so we ’ d like to think we ’ ll be back here next year . Crystal Palace has worked wonders since joining the club from Newcastle United back in January this year . ‘ My job gets more difficult now after beating the champions here . Expectations will be higher . We have to keep on improving on it . ‘ There wasn ’ t too much of a secret tonight . It was about resilience and good organisation . Great character in the team . ‘ It was an important first goal tonight to set the mood for the game . We managed to get it . ‘ We got a bit of luck , there were some scary moments — about 23 of them , I counted . ‘ But we managed to see it through . You have to pay credit to these players . There were some real sustained attacks from City , showing tremendous character to keep their heads up at 2-0 down , got a great goal and I feared it was going to be a draw , but it was our night tonight . ‘ Sometimes it is . We had a break with the first goal , which looks offside . But sometimes you deserve them . FA disciplinary chiefs are likely to examine footage of Palace goalscorer Puncheon appearing to be hit by a missile while trying to take a corner in the second half .
Manchester City 's chances of retaining the Premier League title were dealt a hammer blow by a 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace . Glenn Murray and Jason Puncheon scored for the Eagles before Yaya Toure grabbed a consolation for City . Manuel Pellegrini believes that Murray 's goal was a 'clear offside ' City are now first in the league table , nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea with just seven matches remaining . CLICK HERE for all the latest Manchester City news .