Manuel Pellegrini is expecting his Manchester City side to win the Premier League title this weekend.
The 2012 champions defeated Aston Villa 4-0 on Wednesday night to move two points and plus-13 on goal difference clear of Liverpool.
With one fixture remaining - against West Ham United on Sunday - City only have to avoid defeat to be crowned champions for 2013/14 which their boss is expecting to happen.
"Now we can talk about the title because if we win the next game we are going to win the title," he told Sky Sports after the win.
"We could not do the same before this game because we had to beat Aston Villa.
"Of course I expect to win the title because now we are top of the table.
"It has been a strange season maybe because we were never top of the table.
"Everyone said we were favourites but we were nine points behind Liverpool and eight points behind Chelsea.
"We had three games in hand but we must win all those games. Now we are top of the table and I hope we are not going to lose next Sunday."
Edin Dzeko scored in the 64th and 72nd minutes at the Etihad Stadium before Stevan Jovetic and Yaya Toure wrapped it up with later goals as City grabbed pole position ahead of the final match of the campaign.
