Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini accepts his side are now facing a fight to stay in the Champions League places . City appear to have lost too much ground to Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League title race and their recent form has led to a further worry , with the sides behind them catching fast . The fading champions could even find themselves in fourth place before they next play - at Crystal Palace on Monday - if results go against them over the weekend . Manuel Pellegrini ( centre ) shakes hands with David Silva during Manchester City training . Martin Demichelis ( left ) , Wilfried Bony ( centre ) and Fernando during Friday 's session . Frank Lampard ( right ) looks to play a pass as he and his team-mates are put through their paces . This is not a battle they envisaged having to fight at the start of the campaign but Pellegrini realises nothing can be taken for granted after a frustrating second half of the season . Pellegrini said : ' I think in this league you can never be sure you are going to have a Champions League place . You have six or seven teams that , from the beginning , all of them play for that position . 'At the moment , for the whole year , we have been in a position of the Champions League . I hope that we will continue . ' Pellegrini believes his side are now in a battle for the Champions League places and not the title . Manchester City have struggled to keep up with Chelsea , who are closing in on the Premier League trophy . The ramifications of dropping out of the top four , however , are not really something Pellegrini wants to consider , given that he still has hopes of landing the title . With just eight games remaining and a significant deficit to make up on Chelsea that looks a forlorn task , but Pellegrini is not giving up . The Chilean said : 'Of course if we want to continue in the first position of the table we must not drop any more points . It is easy to say but not easy to do it . 'We just know that from now until the end of the season we will try to win all the games and we will see if we can do it . We have to play eight finals from now until the end . ' Sergio Aguero has found goals hard to come by in recent weeks but will hope to find the net on Monday . James Milner is in line to return after withdrawing from the England squad with a knee problem . City will hope to be at full strength for the trip to Selhurst Park . Pellegrini reported nothing other than 'small problems ' when asked about any injury concerns at his pre-match press conference . That means a likely return for key midfielder Yaya Toure , who missed the 3-0 victory over West Brom a fortnight ago with an Achilles problem but has since played for Ivory Coast . Fellow midfielder James Milner has also been troubled by a knee problem in recent weeks - and withdrew from England 's midweek friendly in Italy - but the issue is not thought serious .
Manuel Pellegrini says his side are in a fight for Chelsea . Manchester City have slipped further behind the Champions League in the title race . City travel to Alan Pardew 's Crystal Palace on Monday night . CLICK HERE for all the latest Manchester City news .