Manchester City suffered a double injury blow in their game against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League. Both first-choice centre-backs Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi were withdrawn in the first half due to injury, and the latter is doubtful for the Manchester derby on Sunday.
The Citizens’ defence will be missing its backbone on Sunday, as their injury-prone captain Vincent Kompany has been ruled out for at least a month. Although there is still some hope for Otamendi, the fixture might come too soon for him.
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini gave an update on the injured members of his squad ahead of the Manchester derby, with a win and three points crucial to their title hopes.
“Talking with the doctor, I think that Vincent has an injury in the other calf, not the same one as last time,” said Pellegrini, according to the official club website.
“We’ll see in the way he’ll improve – maybe one month he can be ready. I think he could play again this season. It’s a new injury in the other calf. It’s high behind the knee, similar to the one that Kolarov had a month ago and he took three weeks to a month to recover so we’ll see.
“Nico [Otamendi] is running but it’s a risk if he takes another kick on the same leg.”
Pellegrini also revealed that Samir Nasri has started working again with the whole squad. The Chilean hopes that Nasri, Fabian Delph and Kevin de Bruyne can play in a friendly with the U21s during the international break.
In their absence, Yaya Toure is pushed up in a more attacking role for Manchester City, ahead of the central midfield pairing of Fernando and Fernandinho. David Silva moves to the right wing, with Raheem Sterling on the left and Argentine goal machine Sergio Aguero starting up front.
The lack of options at the back means Martin Demichelis and Eliaquim Managala form the central defensive pair protecting goalkeeper Joe Hart, while Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov will likely feature in the two full-back positions for Manchester City.
