Otamendi to get Man City debut as Aguero returns

Manager Manuel Pellegrini suggested the 29-year-old would be in contention for Saturday’s Barclays Premier League meeting with West Ham, and Kompany shares that optimism.

Despite suffering a mid-week defeat at home to Juventus, Manchester City are heavy favourite for this one.

Vincent Kompany has been ruled out of Manchester City’s clash with West Ham at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.

“It is important for Nicolas Otamendi to have his opportunity to demonstrate why he is here and Martin Demichelis to return to his performance last season. We have Yaya Toure, Joe Hart, Otamendi or Silva – we have players who can assume the role of captain in the team”.

“Otamendi has maybe not worked with us as much as we would have liked but he’s an experienced player and he will have his chance”. I hope at the end of this month he will be okay.

City have set formidable standards this season, with five successive wins opening up a four-point lead at the top of the table, and Pellegrini is hopeful they can be maintained in Kompany’s absence.

“He is 100% and will play without any problems”.

With in-form West Ham United next up for the Premier League leaders, De Bruyne admits he’s been impressed with what he’s seen so from the Hammers and is expecting a tough afternoon.

The loss of Kompany could be significant after his outstanding performances so far this season.

“It’s not his first move, he played for Lille, Saint-Etienne, Marseille – Marseille is an extremely big club, with big pressure, big responsibility”.

Slaven Bilic’s side, however, have lost all of their last seven visits to the Etihad, and Pellegrini will also welcome star-striker Sergio Aguero back from a knee-injury suffered against Crystal Palace.

“It is not easy to win two games against important rivals like Arsenal and Liverpool and without conceding a goal”.

“It can sometimes be decided by who fights for the title most in December as there are a lot of games and sometimes teams have to change players”.