Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini says he was pleased with the performance of his side after they suffered a surprise 2-1 defeat at Crystal Palace.
City were rocked as Glenn Murray's first-half goal and Jason Puncheon's excellent free kick immediately after the restart gave Palace the cushion they needed to withstand late pressure after Yaya Toure had given City hope with a late strike.
City's third successive away league defeat, their fifth loss in their last seven games in all competitions, leaves them languishing in fourth place nine points adrift of leaders Chelsea who also having a game in hand on them.
But Pellegrini did not rule out tracking down the leaders with this weekend's vital Manchester derby to come at Old Trafford,live on Sky Sports.
"I am very pleased with the way my team played because I think we played really well,"
he told Sky Sports. "Normally we'll win if we play like this. We had a lot of chances and were unlucky not to score more goals.
"We're not talking about the title, we just want to win our games. Every time you (drop) points, it's a big blow. At the end of the season, every point that you lose is costly."
The next seven games are very important - 21 points. Normally the champions place is just one or two points (above the next team), so we must continue to win as many points as we can.
"I repeat, we are only thinking about what we can do and that is to try and win our games and at the endof the season we will see where we are in the table."
Watch Manchester United takes on neigbours Manchester City at Old Trafford, on Sunday 12 April, live on Sky Sports 1 from 3.30pm.