The one condition in which Manuel Pellegrini should be kept as Manchester City manager

Entering Sunday's Manchester derby, Manchester City's season appears destined to be trophy-less, and talk of getting the sack follows manager Manuel Pellegini closer than his own shadow these days. But as long as the Citizens finish in the top four in the Premier League, he should be allowed to stay.

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That may sound pathetic for the insane amount of cash spilled to create this side. However, the Chilean deserves a third season at City after winning the league in his first campaign last year.

Already out of the FA Cup and Champions League, City suffered another disappointing defeat on Monday, 2-1 at Crystal Palace to fall nine points behind Chelsea, and with the Londoners carrying an extra game in their back pocket, the situation does not offer real hope of City adding any trophies to the cabinet this season. Unless, of course, Arsene Wenger is right and a top-four finish counts as silverware.

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But what hurt Manchester City more than the tactical collapses were the January transfer dealings. City made a vital error in judgment when the check writers focused their spending on finding a player in Wilfried Bony who could only offer limited contributions this season. Bony may well be the striker that sends Edin Dzeko packing, but the Ivorian could not offer Man City assistance when its championship hopes went into cardiac arrest after the new year.

The decision to buy Bony – who was playing with Yaya Toure for the Ivory Coast at the Africa Cup of Nations and thus unavailable – instead of a player who could help the club in January led to a month that ended up being as frigid on the pitch as off it. Ultimately, the ill-advised purchase cost City its chances of winning any competition. The club has not sustained a proper run of results since.

While Toure and Bony led Ivory Coast to African continental glory, the Sky Blues lost to lower-league Middleborough in the FA Cup and fell flat face-first in the Premiership. A loss to Arsenal at home and a draw away to Chelsea dropped valuable points against two teams that currently stare down at the defending champion in the table. Add the two dismal draws to Everton and Hull City, and Pellegrini's Man City lost its grip on all domestic silverware well before it current run of poor form.

Louis van Gaal and a rejuvenated Manchester United have hopped over their local rivals in the table, sitting one point ahead in third place with 62. United is the form team with Wayne Rooney and Marouane Fellaini fighting forward, Michael Carrick finding his feet in midfield and David De Gea defending the goal. The Red Devils have won six of their last seven league matches, and they are more likely to extend that to seven in their last eight at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Including the Champions League, Manchester City has lost its last four away matches. In contrast, Manchester United has not suffered a home defeat in the league since early January. In truth, a City loss is more likely than not, and any other result would be surprising.

But sacking Pellegini for losing at Old Trafford, at this point, would be emotional. He should not get the boot if United beats City because it should have little to no impact on next season, which is all Man City can look forward to in the way of trophies. Even if Rooney routs the Citizens, the manager should stay as long as Manchester City remains in the top four.

However, if City drops out of the top four and relinquishes the highly coveted Champions League status that Sheikh Mansour has purchased with oil barrels of money, Pellegrini should plan on booking his summer flight to South America without a return trip.

Shahan Ahmed is a soccer columnist for Yahoo Sports. He has previously written about the 2014 World Cup and 2013 Confederations Cup and regularly provides opinions on the English Premier League, UEFA Champions League, German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A and Spanish La Liga. Follow Shahan on Twitter: @ShahanLA and @perfectpass