MANCHESTER -- Manuel Pellegrini admits that Manchester City's busy schedule may give their rivals an advantage in the Premier League title race, but insists chasing trophies on four fronts is good for the club.
City play a Capital One Cup semifinal second leg against Everton on Wednesday night before facing Aston Villa in the FA Cup on Saturday.
And their Champions League campaign starts again at the end of February when the Blues must complete a 3,000-mile round trip to Ukraine to face Dynamo Kiev in the round of 16.
City could potentially play a maximum of 32 games if they were to reach the final of every cup competition and if their FA Cup fixtures were to go to a replay.
In contrast, Premier League leaders Leicester City have been knocked out of both the League Cup and FA Cup, and with no European football the Foxes have just their 15 league fixtures to concentrate on.
Asked if their rivals have an advantage, Pellegrini told a news conference: "Maybe."
But the City boss insisted he would rather be challenging for silverware on four fronts than to be knocked out of any competitions, saying: "Maybe we are going to play more games but I always wanted to be involved in all the competitions. It's better for the club, it's better for the squad.
"It's the reality that we have to play a lot of games from tomorrow until Feb. 27 we are going to play nine or 10 games. But if you asked me before I prefer that than being eliminated from these competitions."
City are currently three points behind Leicester at the top of the table and moved above Arsenal into second at the weekend with a 2-2 draw at West Ham United.
Pellegrini predicts a close finish in the title race and says whoever is crowned champions will have fewer points than in recent seasons.
"It's a very close Premier League -- nobody can take an important advantage against the other teams," he added.
"We are still three points from the leaders but we have another 15 games to play -- 45 points is a lot of points. But I think from now until the end will be very close and with less points to win it if you compare it to other seasons."