Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini upbeat over Kevin de Bruyne and Samir Nasri fitness
Friday 1 April 2016 15:45, UK
Manuel Pellegrini is confident Kevin de Bruyne and Samir Nasri will play a significant role during the remainder of season for Manchester City.
However, the City boss was less upbeat about Joe Hart and Yaya Toure who will miss Saturday's trip to Bournemouth and may also be absent for their Champions League first leg tie against Paris Saint-Germain next week.
De Bruyne has not played since late January, while Nasri's most recent game came last October when Bournemouth travelled to the Etihad Stadium.
"I'm not 100% sure but I think it will be difficult for Joe or Yaya to play against PSG," said Pellegrini.
"At this moment, Kevin and Samir are on the squad list. Maybe they won't play 90 minutes but they are ready.
"Kevin worked the whole week with no problem. Of course, it was a long time he couldn't play and the same with Samir Nasri. But I hope both of them will be important for the remainder of the season.
"Raheem Sterling has a muscle injury and will be out for four or five weeks, while Toure has a problem with his heel.
"At the end of the season, when you have so many players playing so many games, it's important to have fresh players coming in."
And the Chilean remains confident over the club's Premier League hopes, although he accepts the last few weeks have been mediocre by their own high standards.
"We're disappointed because one month ago we were involved in all the competitions, just three points behind the leaders," he added.
"But it's not a bad season - we won a title (Capital One Cup) and we're still in the Champions League.
"All the teams are involved and have a mathematical chance and that's also the case with teams in front of us. It's my mentality we take each game as it comes and try to finish as high up the table as we can."
As for this weekend's opponents Bournemouth, who lost 5-1 to City on October 17, Pellegrini said: "They've had a good season. Maybe in the first few games there were doubts about the way they should play but since then they've returned to the way they played to get promoted."
