Sergio Agüero is fit for Manchester City’s late kick-off with Liverpool on Saturday after recovering from a hamstring injury that ruled him out of the club’s past nine matches. David Silva and Vincent Kompany are unavailable, however, because of their respective ankle and calf problems.
“Sergio is fit,” said the City manager, Manuel Pellegrini. “He is ready to come back. David continues with some small pain in his ankle so I think it is a risk for him to play. Unfortunately Samir Nasri is injured and [Wilfried] Bony continues [with a hamstring problem] and Vincent Kompany, both of them are out.”
While Agüero was absent the Premier League leaders qualified for the Champions League knockout stage with two games to spare and reached the Capital One Cup quarter-finals.
“I always answer about the question the same thing,” said Pellegrini. “I think that we not only demonstrate now that without Sergio [or] any important players, we can play. This year we have a lot of important injuries, not only Sergio, also David, Nasri, Gaël Clichy the whole season, Fernando for a month and a half, [Pablo] Zabaleta played two games in the season, that is why we have a squad. One of the merits of this team is it doesn’t just depend on one or two players but of course I think this team is better with Kun.”
Liverpool’s visit to the Etihad Stadium should see Raheem Sterling face his former club for the first time. The forward left Anfield in the summer in acrimonious circumstances after publicly agitating for a transfer.
“I always think it is special for the player to play against [his former side],” said Pellegrini. “Not only Raheem but all the players to play against the team they work for many players. Maybe for James Milner it will be exactly the same but those situations are part of the career of the player. They are now defending another shirt.
“I always say that Raheem is a very young player. He must improve a lot and in important things. It is important also he can demonstrate in every game because I am very happy with the way he is playing so far that he is an important player and will be more important in the future.
Pellegrini said time would prove if Sterling could become as influential as Agüero and Yaya Touré for City. “It depends on the way he improves but the important thing is he just 20 years old. He has a lot of years to work. He will be a very important player not only for Man City but for England.”
Of the meeting with Liverpool, Pellegrini said: “I think that one of the most important things in important games is to have a cold mind, maybe a hot heart but a cold mind, because there are a lot of mistakes, that is so important that I hope we can do it.”
