EDDIE Howe believes Manuel Pellegrini has excelled as Manchester City boss and admits he has learned from the Chilean's impressive approach.

Pellegrini, who was appointed in 2013, looks set to depart City this summer with Bayern Munich manager Pep Guardiola due to replace him.

The 62-year-old has enjoyed plenty of success at the Etihad Stadium since his arrival, guiding the team to the Premier League and League Cup crowns in his first season in charge.

The former Malaga and Real Madrid manager, only the fifth non-European boss in the English top flight, added the League Cup to the trophy cabinet this term.

While City's top-flight title hopes appear slim this season, Pellegrini's troops are still standing in the Champions League and face Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.

Pellegrini's achievements have drawn admiration from Howe, who revealed he respected the approach of the experienced boss both on and off the pitch.

Speaking ahead of the teams' clash at Vitality Stadium tomorrow (3pm), Howe said: “He has done an amazing job when you consider that in a relatively short period of time he has changed the perception of Manchester City and won trophies.

“I think he has done a really good job and has done it with class as well, so it has been a very successful period of time for them.

“There are elements of every manager that you can look at and respect and take bits from. He is certainly one.

"I think he is a really classy guy because of the way he conducts himself, not just around the pitch but in interviews as well. He has handled himself very well."

Asked if it was an indicator of the top-flight's ruthless nature that Pellegrini was leaving City this summer, Howe added: “It shows how tough it is at any level of the Premier League, whether you are at the top, middle or bottom.

“Longevity is incredibly hard to achieve in the modern era and that’s why guys who are in the job for a long period of time and get success deserve all the credit."

Cherries suffered back-to-back 5-1 defeats to City and Tottenham in October, experiences which Howe believes were vital.

And the boss is confident his team have since acclimatised to the Premier League after those chastening losses.

"Two 5-1 defeats doesn’t leave you feeling great but I think it was a positive for us," said Howe.

“Everyone looks at it as a negative but I try and take the opposite view and think that a lot of learning took place in those games.

“It was up to us to help the players with our training to acclimatise because it’s not every day they are up against players of that quality.

“We felt on the back of the games that there were elements of the team that were not quite functioning.

“We needed to put it right and it was about getting certain things across. We learned from the training but the games highlighted the need to improve."