Pellegrini’s side were beaten by the same scoreline the last time that goalkeeping understudy Willy Caballero filled in for Hart at Tottenham in September, but the manager retains full faith in a goalkeeper he coached during his time at Malaga.
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“When I arrived here I knew I came for this position and I tried to help Joe to improve – and he has helped me too”.
“David gives us a different way of playing – we have good possession against teams with eight or nine players of theirs behind the ball and David is the player with the most accurate passes in the final third”.
“Fortunately it is not a very serious injury, but it is very important for him to recover well”.
“I never complain about players that are injured”, he said.
At the Etihad City have been especially dominant, and Southampton have suffered five successive defeats at the stadium in all competitions. The Premier League favourites will get one boost though welcoming back David Silva after a spell on the sidelines.
Hart is ruled out with a short-term hamstring injury, and with City losing their last two matches against Juventus and Liverpool, the pressure is on to stay on top of the title race with Leicester and Manchester United now ahead in the league table. They are a big team and we must be ready for every game and every team.
“They are missing Pelle but (Shane) Long is a very good striker – they have one suspended player but they will be just as hard”.
“Of course it was not a good week for us”.
“Mangala has a muscle problem in his hamstring”, Pellegrini explained. “I hope he will be fit for Stoke [on Saturday week]”. He needs to make a treatment.
City Captain Vincent Kompany is out with a calf problem, while Eliaquim Mangala is expected to be out for the next two games.
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The English goalkeeper will be out for around 10 days, which means Willy Caballero will start in goal, but Pellegrini has no concerns about placing his trust in the Argentine.
