Kompany vows to beat injury problems

Unfortunately, Kompany’s return only lasted nine minutes after he seemed to re-injure his calf during his time on the pitch.

City boss Manuel Pellegrini is expecting a tough game against a Leicester side which was sitting top of the Premier League over Christmas but lost only their second game of the season at Liverpool on Boxing Day.

The Belgian centre-back came off the bench in the 4-1 win on Saturday over Sunderland but unfortunately lasted less than 10 minutes before despondently walking off with a calf injury.

By and large, results have been a whole lot better at the Etihad Stadium, but their lack of consistency is such that they are now six points behind surprise leaders Leicester City, so they need to put a run together quickly in order to live up to their status as title favourites.

However, their chances could be severely dented depending on the outcome of Kompany’s latest calf injury, as City’s defence has been incredibly suspect in recent weeks, with both Eliaquim Mangala and Nicolas Otamendi failing to impress on the same level as Kompany.

“But we need to cope without him, even though it is harder”. We’ve played the whole season with an average of six players injured in every game.

The same can not be said for Sam Allardyce’s Sunderland, who will definitely see in the new year in the relegation zone.

Kompany arrived as a 62nd-minute sub against Sunderland but hobbled off barely seven minutes later and Pellegrini admitted: “We were anxious”.

In the 22th minute, Wilfried Bony powered a header past Mannone following a De Bruyne set-piece cross to give Manchester City a 3-0 lead which they would take into the halftime break.

“I am just thinking about winning against Sunderland”.

That comes soon after star striker Sergio Aguero overcame a heel problem and, with Pablo Zabaleta and Fernando also back in the frame, what was recently a worryingly long injury list is easing.

Four minutes later the home fans were on their feet again as Toure’s quick feet bamboozled Jordi Gomez and the midfielder brilliantly placed his left-foot shot into the bottom-right corner from 25 yards.

During that absence, City lost three times in the Premier League.

De Bruyne registered his name on the score sheet, with Borini getting the consolation goal for Sunderland. You demonstrate what kind of manager you are, and after that you can have another club that maybe they win the title and are sacked. We are in the semi-finals of the Capital One Cup and through in the Champions League so I don’t think it is important to split it into home and away.