The title race this season is largely being touted to be a battle between the royal blue of Chelsea and the sky blue of Manchester City, though with the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal possibly being in the reckoning too. Even though Chelsea currently hold a 6-point lead over their rivals after their loss to Aston Villa and City’s win over Hull City, City have 3 games in hand and could be back on top if they win all of them.

However, these two teams are voicing their differences in their press conferences, with members of the respective teams taking digs at each other more and more. It was Chelsea’s manager Jose Mourinho who stoked the fire by speaking ill about City boss Manuel Pellegrini in one of his sessions with the media not so long ago. This did not go down too well with City’s Yaya Toure, who has himself retaliated by suggesting that Mourinho should refrain from such ‘disrespectful’ behaviour.

He is quoted in the Mirror as saying “He is a coach and he must give respect a little bit,”

“He is always talking about everyone and that is not the correct way. That is why Barcelona always beat Real Madrid when Mourinho was here. I think he talks more than before, perhaps because the English press likes it.”

I think we can expect plenty more back-and-forth between players and coaches from the two sides as the pressure gets ratcheted up as we approach the end of the season.