It isn’t as simple as winning for Manuel Pellegrini’s side, with their fate dependent upon Juventus’ result against Sevilla. But it is clear to see how Manchester’s blue outfit were affected by the absence of Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure.
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Xherdan Shaqiri impressive performance in Stoke City’s dismantling of Manchester City at the weekend has left manager Mark Hughes optimistic his side will attract more top talent from Europe in the coming transfer windows.
Find out talkSPORT’s predicted line up by clicking the yellow arrow above, right.
“The other players missing are Kompany, Demichelis, Nasri, Zabaleta and Fernando”.
All of this could be a factor in City’s recent patchy form, which continued with a 2-0 loss at Stoke on Saturday, but Pellegrini claims it is too early to assess the performance of back-up players.
Asked if the injury was proving more serious than first thought, Pellegrini said: “No, but it is an injury that he can not work (on)”.
“We can play two games without any problem”. Already assured of a place in the knockout phase, City can progress as group winners for the first time and avoid the continent’s big-name sides if they beat Monchengladbach and Europa League-chasing Sevilla overcome Juventus.
“Conditions were tough but that’s English football – I said before the game no-one would be able to walk of the pitch with an excuse”.
Despite limping heavily on his way out of the stadium that evening, Aguero joked that he could play “tomorrow”, while Pellegrini told the press that it was “nothing important”.
With Martin Demichelis ruled out by a tendon injury, it means a recall for Mangala for the first time since his horror show in the 4-1 home defeat by Liverpool.
Manchester United host West Ham United and Arsenal entertain Sunderland later.
“I always say in this team we don’t depend on one or two players, but of course this team plays better, and in the style I like to play, with Silva in the starting line-up”, said Pellegrini. “The whole season there are a lot of games we played without our important players”, he added.
The emphatic 3-1 win on Saturday also extended coach Andre Schubert’s unbeaten league run to 10 matches since taking over. This year the league is weird – every team can lose.
De Bruyne was denied by a good low save from Jack Butland, who also deflected a Kolarov effort onto the post late in the half. just moments before Shaqiri embarrassed the hapless Fernando with a turn of such brilliance the City midfielder was halfway towards his own bench before he realised what had happened.
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“Over the complete game we didn’t have the energy to compete in the same way as Stoke and it is hard because we are the only team that is involved in all the competitions”.
