Manchester City are expected to get back to winning ways when Newcastle United pay visit to Etihad Stadium on Saturday afternoon, but manager Manuel Pellegrini reckons his side will not have it easy as he apparently expects Steve McClaren to assign defensive duties to at least nine players.
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The Chilean manager heaped praise on the Tyneside club for their displays against title contenders Manchester United and potentially outgoing champions Chelsea and added that he did not care about their position in the Premier League table due to its ability to deceive at early stages of the campaign.
The Citizens will be without his skipper Vincent Kompany and a host of first-team regulars, but their manager maintained that his side could pull off a victory in spite of the absence of the Belgian powerhouse and added that a single player could never influence the progress of the team.
The former Real Madrid manager cited the multitude of injuries that his men had sustained for their dwindling form and assured that his side could come to the fore once their injury list features no first-team player. He also stated that the likes of Fabian Delph and Samir Nasri would gain fitness at the end of the two-week-long international break.
a Tomorrow we have a tough game against Newcastle. They played very well against Chelsea and here in Manchester against United. We are not thinking of the top of the table at this moment as it is important to be at the top in May. We know we are going to have eight or nine players defending so we have to create the space.a
a Vincent Kompany, Gael Clichy, Fabian Delph, Samir Nasri and Yaya Toure are injured. Kompanya s calf is still injured, so we will see if he is fit after the international break. It has not been a normal situation to have so many injuries a against Sunderland we had 11 injured, then ita s been seven or eight. I hope after this break, most of them will be fit.
a I never complain about the players who cana t play. I dona t think that one name can change the performance of this team. We also win a lot of games without Vincent. Hea s an important player for us of course a we hope we will play again soon of course. We always expect to win at home but away also, we want to win everywhere. We have to play in the same way, in the same style.a
Manchester City registered their first Champions League win of the season by humbling Borussia Monchengladbach at their own turf and now have the task of getting back to winning ways in the Premier League against the Magpies.