text: Manuel Pellegrini accepted the blame on Sunday night for the emphatic Manchester derby defeat that has plunged his job into even greater jeopardy. Manchester United heaped more pressure on the beleaguered City boss with a 4-2 win at Old Trafford, lifting them four points clear of their rivals in the race for a Champions League place. City capitulated after taking an early lead through Sergio Aguero, and Pellegrini said: ‘I always think it is my responsibility, always. I think it was a clear result for Manchester United. Manuel Pellegrini watches from the touchline as Manchester City lose 4-2 to United at Old Trafford . Manchester City players show their dejection at the derby defeat on Sunday afternoon . ‘But I am not talking about my position – it is not important.’ The Premier League champions have lost six of their last eight games in all competitions, and a team that were joint top on New Year’s Day are now fighting to finish in the top-four. City sources maintain that Pellegrini is unlikely to be axed before the end of the season. But Patrick Vieira has impressed in his work with the club’s elite development squad and is believed to be willing to step in as interim manager until the end of the season if Pellegrini goes. Vieira is in charge of City’s Under-21 development squad and is being groomed to become the manager at the Etihad in the future. Pellegrini admitted that the spirit within his squad is a concern as he tries to arrest the slump. City are five points ahead of fifth-placed Southampton ahead of next Sunday’s game at home to West Ham. Patrick Vieira looks on during a Manchester City UEFA Youth League match against Schalke in February . Manchester United players celebrate as Chris Smalling (centre) scores their fourth goal of the afternoon . ‘Maybe it is something we can be concerned (about),’ he added. ‘The spirit of the team does not seem the real spirit but we must try to continue playing the way we did for the first 20 minutes. ‘It is the same team. We must improve and I hope when we win again the team will recover their trust. ‘We are concerned to try and win the next game. We have to play six games more. We were the whole year in the first or second position. ‘United and Arsenal have to play against Chelsea. We have 18 points more to play so we must not try make it a dramatic moment. We now have two games at home, we must try to recover from this defeat.’ United’s win in front of their jubilant supporters ended a run of four successive Manchester derby defeats. Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Juan Mata and Chris Smalling gave Louis van Gaal’s team an unassailable lead before Aguero got his second goal late on. Sergio Aguero walks off the pitch after the final whistle is blown at Old Trafford . Van Gaal claimed that United’s 4-3 advantage on aggregate in this season’s two derbies with City means that they can consider themselves to be the top team in Manchester. He said: ‘It’s great to be a supporter of Man United right now. ‘You are playing for the fans and at the start of the season it was not fantastic to be a United fan. We had 11 matches and 13 points and still they supported us. This week they can go on the streets, head up and say “we are the better team because goal average is in our favour”. ‘We are now four points ahead of City in third place which is very important because it gets you automatic qualification into the Champions League. We started badly, there was a lot of stress building up and because of that we went 1-0 behind. But we have good team spirit and came back. The second half was fantastic. Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal (right) celebrates victory with Ander Herrera at full-time . ‘But we have still six matches to go and that can be changed again so we can enjoy ourselves today and tomorrow maybe. Tuesday is a day off but then we have to prepare for a match against Chelsea away. ‘The goal we set was to get into the top four and I’ll be very pleased if we reach that goal. It is not done yet but we are on our way.’
target: Manchester City lost 4-2 to rivals United at Old Trafford on Sunday .
  City manager Manuel Pellegrini accepted the blame for the defeat .
  Club sources say that Pellegrini is unlikely to be axed before end of season .
  Patrick Vieira is believed to be willing to step in as interim manager .