Manchester City defender Micah Richards has revealed that Manuel Pellegrini told his players that Manchester United had beaten Southampton ahead of their match against West Ham United.
The Citizens kicked off at 5.30pm at Upton Park, around 35 minutes after Dejan Lovren had scored a late equaliser at Old Trafford.
Richards said that the Chilean coach lied to the City team, telling them that David Moyes's men had won in order to fire them up.
"We thought [United] were winning 1-0," Richards told The Mirror. "The manager said they had won, Arsenal had won and Chelsea had won, and so we had to win.
"Maybe it was a bit of reverse psychology but it was obviously nice. We just knew we had to win."
A brace from Sergio Aguero and a second-half David Silva goal saw City take all three points in West London.
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