Kompany’s injury has allegedly prompted Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini to turn to the £31.5 million summer signing Otamendi, who is the second most expensive centre-back in Premier League history, in order to replace the injured captain. “I am sure he will not be fit for next Tuesday and we will see how he recovers in the week to see if he is fit for Tottenham”.
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Kompany will sit out Saturday’s home game against West Ham and Tuesday’s Capital One Cup trip to Sunderland but could return at White Hart Lane next Saturday.
“Martin finished very well last season”, Pellegrini said.
Winger Samir Nasri is also an injury doubt, but Pellegrini has been boosted by the news that striker Sergio Aguero, who came on for the final seven minutes of the Group D opener at the Etihad, has fully recovered from the knee injury picked up against Crystal Palace last weekend and will be fit for the Sky Live clash.
“Otamendi has been working with our team for the last three weeks – maybe not as much as we would like because he went with the national squad”. We’re lucky as we have other leaders inside the team.
“It is not easy not to concede one goal in the Premier League but we hope we can continue”.
Meanwhile, West Ham manager Slaven Bilic believes players as good as Dimitri Payet do not need time to adapt to the Barclays Premier League.
West Ham have enjoyed an interesting start to the season; sitting in fifth place, the Hammers have beaten Arsenal and Liverpool on the road already in the campaign, but have suffered defeats to Leicester and Bournemouth, both in front of their own fans. And that just doesn’t make sense when you look at all the world class, experienced players they have in their team.
City are four points clear at the top of the table, having won all their five games so far without conceding a goal.
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“It’s going to be more up to them how the game is going to be played because they have that quality”.
