Sergio Aguero: Man City boss Manuel Pellegrini praises striker

Manchester City will have an in-form Sergio Aguero for their title run-in, says boss Manuel Pellegrini.

The 27-year-old Argentina striker scored a late winner in the 2-1 victory over Watford that took them to within three points of leaders Arsenal.

It was his third game back after a month out with a heel injury, which had come soon after a hamstring problem.

"I'm sure we'll see in the second part of the season the performances of Aguero we're used to," said the boss.

"He needs two to three games to return to his normal performance. The goal that he scored tonight was important for him. Before that he made a lot of good movements - better than the last game."

The winner over Watford was his 10th goal of the season, with five of those coming in October's game against Newcastle - his final City match before six weeks out with a hamstring injury.

Meanwhile, Pellegrini says it is too soon to be thinking about the Premier League title, but believes that City's recovery from a goal down to take all three points at Vicarage Road reflects their resilience.

"We need to play 18 games more and not be thinking about the title," he said. "In January, we have the semi-final of the Capital One Cup, we start the FA Cup, we have so many games that the most important thing is to try to go game by game," he added.

"I always said this team has a lot of character.

"We never give up, in every important game we always keep the face. We won the Champions League group in the same way."

City scored late to win their games home and away against Borussia Monchengladbach and at home to Sevilla to finish top of their Champions League group.