Kevin De Bruyne says Manchester City must deliver in absence of stars
Monday 19 October 2015 06:46, UK
Kevin De Bruyne says there can be no excuses if Manchester City slip up in the Premier League title race in the absences of Sergio Aguero and David Silva.
City's influential attacking duo were injured during the recent international break with Aguero set to be on the sidelines for at least a month and Silva a fortnight.
The burden to deliver in the final third has shifted to De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling and Wilfried Bony - a trio signed for close to a combined £130m over the past year.
They all responded to the challenge superbly on Saturday as the league leaders thrashed Bournemouth 5-1 at the Etihad Stadium. Sterling scored a hat-trick, Bony grabbed the other two and De Bruyne was influential throughout.
"More people will look at us because we have lost two great players on the attacking front, but I think the other ones are really good players," the Belgian said.
"Maybe we don't have the experience of the other ones but I think we are doing really well together and the more games we get the more we will know each other and hopefully the better we will do.
"It is always a blow when you miss them but we need to maintain our level and try to win without them.
"It is not an excuse to say at the Etihad we may lose four games because they are not there. If you want to win titles you have to do with the players you have. Sometimes it is more difficult but you have to try to win these games."
Another player who might have been asked to step up in such circumstances is Samir Nasri but the Frenchman experienced discomfort on his return from a hamstring injury against Bournemouth.
The 28-year-old replaced De Bruyne in the 62nd minute but was troubled in the latter stages and only played until the end because City had used all their substitutes. He now looks doubtful for Wednesday's Champions League clash with Sevilla.
"Nasri had a problem with his hamstring. I think it will be very difficult for him [to play Wednesday]," City manager Manuel Pellegrini said.
"Unfortunately we knew that he was feeling something after we made the third change, but he didn't run too much. He stayed in the middle so we'll see in the next day what happens with him."
