Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini backs Joe Hart

Joe Hart

Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has told Sky that he ‘trusts’ goalkeeper Joe Hart and praised the improvement shown by his stopper since being axed from the first team.

Pellegrini dropped Hart to the bench in favour of Costel Pantillimon after a string of mistakes, culminating in a defeat to Chelsea after Fernando Torres capitalised on a Hart error.

The Manchester City ‘keeper spent seven games on the bench, but has since been recalled and held down his place following a string of faultless performances.

Pellegrini was full of praise for his ‘keeper going into the rematch with Chelsea, saying, “He has improved a lot. It was important for him to have a rest. Now you can see good performances and that is very important for the team.

“He’s improved everything. He was not taking good decisions, maybe his stats were not 100%, so having a rest was very useful for him.

“I trust him because I see him working every day.

“In football it is very difficult to talk about the future. Football is about the present, especially for the players and more so for managers, so it is about performance and results.”

City could open a gap of six points between themselves and Chelsea in the race for the Premier League title should they beat their challengers at the Etihad Stadium tonight.

Hart was making just one save per goal conceded before being dropped from the side. Since his recall, he has made 2.14 saves per concession.