Sunday 14 December 2014 07:11, UK
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini says captain Vincent Kompany and forward Edin Dzeko are almost certain to be out until the new year after picking up injuries at Leicester.
Dzeko suffered a calf injury while warming up prior to the match and had to be replaced by Jose Pozo in the starting line-up while centre-back Kompany suffered a recurrence of his nagging hamstring strain with around 15 minutes left of City’s 1-0 win.
The reigning champions are suffering bad luck with injuries at the moment and are now particularly short of numbers up front, as Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic were already on the sidelines.
Pellegrini said: “Vincent has the same problem as his hamstring a few weeks ago. That was one of the reasons he did not play on Wednesday against Roma.
“Edin has a muscle injury in his calf, so maybe both will be more than a couple of weeks.
"We must find a reason why. It is very unlucky to have three of them with muscle injuries.
"It's difficult because we have to play a lot of games but I can never complain about the players who cannot play.
"It is impossible that Vincent and Edin will be ready before the new year. We will see with Vincent but I think it will be very difficult for them to both play again this year.
"Jovetic may also be out for a couple of weeks but we won't complain about injuries."
It is impossible that Vincent and Edin will be ready before the new year. We will see with Vincent but I think it will be very difficult for them to both play again this year.
City were not at their fluent best at Leicester but a first-half Frank Lampard goal earned them all three points and capped a great week for the club in terms of results following their Champions League victory at Roma.
“This was a very important victory,” said Pellegrini.
“It was a difficult week for us because we had to play on Wednesday in Rome, and after that come back here to England.
“We had less than 72 hours to recover, a lot of injuries, so it was a very difficult game against a good team.
“We won 1-0 and that was important because we kept a clean sheet.
"It was not a beautiful game for the fans but I don't remember Joe Hart having any problems in our goal. Leicester did not really have any chances because we defended well."
With regard to who is likely to play in attack in City’s upcoming matches, Pellegrini added: “We will see with Jose Pozo.
“We have other young players in the squad Patrick Vieira manages. We will see also another way to play.”
Lampard has now scored six goals since joining on loan from Man City’s sister side New York City and Pellegrini reiterated his desire to extend the deal beyond December.
“There have been no serious discussions but we know exactly what we must do,” said the manager.
"Frank wants to stay, we want to keep him. Now we must resolve the problem with New York City and MLS.
"He is very important. One of the reasons why he played today was because he has scored for me. Frank has been very useful for us in this moment."
