Crystal Palace offer Manchester City a reality check as nervous tension returns to the Etihad Stadium But we are not going to play every game after 44 hours rest, which makes it impossible for the players to recover, especially after a game as tough as Liverpool. We are doing very well at home and must continue in the same way. The second half of the Premier League will be difficult for all of the teams, so it will be important to continue not to drop points at home and keep winning away. Sustaining their peerless home form is crucial for City's hopes of winning the title. Despite a recent upturn on their travels, in the second half of the campaign they face all of the current top 10 apart from Chelsea and Southampton away. The flip side, of course, is a home run including games against seven teams currently battling relegation, but as Palace highlighted, an opponent intent on damage limitation can often prove more difficult to overcome than one who is prepared to trade punches. And at the Etihad, where the home crowd has yet to fully shed the nervous tension and hair-trigger frustration that crushed the morale of many City players during the dark days at Maine Road, Pellegrini's team may find their own supporters inadvertently helping the opposition with every moan and gripe whenever City are not 3-0 ahead by half-time. For Pellegrini, however, there was value in the manner of City's dogged victory, in terms of educating the players and supporters of the importance of patience. "It is useful to win this way," Pellegrini said. I would prefer to win by three or four but, for the team, it is useful to win this way. I talked with the players at half-time and told them to be patient and continue to try and find the space. I knew it would be very difficult because teams like Crystal Palace are prepared to defend and they do it very well. Such was Palace's defensive outlook, their supporters ironically cheered their first corner of the game, two minutes before half-time, as if they had taken the lead. But Tony Pulis's team displayed greater ambition after the interval, with Jason Puncheon, Mile Jedinak and Joel Ward all forcing Hart into evasive action to preserve his clean sheet. The England goalkeeper's performance was even more impressive considering he had five stitches inserted in a gash under his left eye following a first-half collision with Cameron Jerome, who suffered an ankle injury in the incident that ended his game. Hart's heroics and Dzeko's goal - a strike from 12 yards from a Jésus Navas pass - proved enough for City, but Palace suggested they have what it takes to avoid relegation. "We got beat at Chelsea by the odd goal and then won at Aston Villa as well as all the positives from this game," Pulis said. We've done well, so let's give it a good blast in the second half of the season.