Manuel Pellegrini says Manchester City cannot afford any more dropped points if they are to defend their Premier League title. Yaya Toure will be back in the side against Newcastle today as the champions set out to win at home for the first time in four games, and Pellegrini said: “It’s important to have Yaya back, he’s an important player for us.

“We are sure Yaya will be the same player as he was before he left. We didn’t win a lot of games without him but there were other problems too. We had players coming back from injuries – when you put both together, maybe that explains it.”

“We cannot drop more points,” he said, “but the important thing also is, if we win we will have the same amount of points at the same moment as last season. “We can’t think about where Chelsea is – it’s important not to drop points and the only way to do it is to play well.”