Vincent Kompany faces up to four weeks out

Manuel Pellegrini, the Manchester City manager, has admitted that the club’s inconsistency in the first half of the campaign would already have ruled them out of the Barclays Premier League title race in any ordinary season.

Vincent Kompany suffered another calf injury when coming on as a substitute in the 4-1 victory over Sunderland in Boxing Day.

“I’m happy because we came here to try and win the game and we went for the three points”, he said in his post-match news conference, “We had more attempts than Leicester and [tried] to win the game, but if you can’t win, then it’s important not to lose”.

“I am not a doctor, but with a muscle injury, it will be very hard for him to be back in less than four weeks”. The defender is likely to miss all of January, which includes four Premier League games, an FA Cup third-round trip to Norwich City and a two-legged League Cup semi-final with Everton.

“Without doubt, (we need) to push on, we need to win all our home games and be hard to beat in our away games as well”. That figure compares with the 45 points they had at this stage of the season when they won their first top-flight title in 44 years in 2012 and the 41 they had when second to Arsenal at the same stage of the 2013/14 season.

Pellegrini does not think his side’s away results matter too much as long as City are achieving their goals.

Not only are they two points adrift from a guaranteed qualification spot into next season’s Europa League competition, they also have a feared attack thanks to the intuitive partnership shared by Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney. After spending over £100 million on the combined exploits of both Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne this summer, there really can be no looking back in the race to claim domestic triumph in 2015/16 – regardless of how efficient City have nonetheless proven in the Champions League this season.

“Maybe we have to finish our chances a little bit better and improve the amount of offensive moments we have”.

He said: “I think we are returning to a very solid and consistent team, which is important. We have set a standard for ourselves that we want to maintain”.

“I think all of the players must celebrate New Year’s Eve”, he added. I d love this to continue but it s not easy.

“2015 was fantastic for Leicester and I hope 2016 can be better”.