Sergio Aguero could miss at least four games, including the Manchester derby and the trip to Arsenal, due to his latest hamstring problem, a serious blow to Manchester City’s title challenge.
None of Manuel Pellegrini’s front-line strikers has scored since January 29th – when Aguero and Edin Dzeko did so in a 5-1 win at Tottenham – and the potential absence of the 26-goal forward until next month could prove a decisive factor as City try to claw back a nine-point deficit to Chelsea.
Today Pellegrini’s side travel to Hull City for the early kick-off before hosting Fulham and Manchester United and then playing Arsenal at the Emirates on March 29th.
Advantage Chelsea
While the full extent of Aguero's layoff will be known when he receives the results of a scan, Pellegrini said: "I . . . hope he will be injured for [only] a couple of weeks. It is 48 hours after they do the exam to know exactly what he has."
As Chelsea have played three games more, Pellegrini knows that his team’s superior goal difference of eight means that if they can win all of them they would overtake their main rivals. However, the Chilean did admit he would prefer to have already banked those points rather than attempting to play catch-up. “Concern, no . . . If we want to win the Premier League you must do things better than other teams and maybe small things or little things can make the difference. But I’m not only talking about Chelsea. Liverpool have a lot of options, Arsenal also,” said Pellegrini.
Last Sunday’s FA Cup defeat to Wigan Athletic and midweek loss at Barcelona in the Champions League have left City with only the league as a possible addition to their League Cup trophy, but the manager denied there is now a greater onus on his side to win the title.
“I don’t think it is an extra pressure because . . . we won the Capital One and the pressure in the FA Cup and the Premier League were exactly the same. Now, in this moment, the pressure to win the Premier League is exactly the same,” said the City manager.
Nervous Argentina
Aguero felt the hamstring problem during the first half of City's 2-1 defeat at Barcelona on Wednesday and failed to re-emerge after the interval. The forward was featuring in only his third match after more than four weeks out with a hamstring injury suffered in the win at Tottenham.
Argentina will be relying on having him fit at the World Cup this summer yet Pellegrini does not believe that when the striker returns he will play with caution until the end of the season in order to protect himself.
“I don’t think the players are thinking about World Cup, I think they are thinking about Manchester City,” he said. “He is a very important player for us.”
Guardian Service
