Manchester City without Vincent Kompany and Stevan Jovetic for CSKA Moscow tie while Joe Hart misses out
Manchester City without Vincent Kompany and Stevan Jovetic for CSKA Moscow tie while Joe Hart misses out
Manuel Pellegrini will go again with Romanian stopper Costel Pantilimon while Vincent Kompany and Stevan Jovetic are sidelined
Goalkeeper Joe Hart of Manchester City sits on the bench
Ian Horrocks
Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that Joe Hart will once again be on the bench for the Citizens' Champions League clash with CSKA Moscow on Tuesday evening.
Hart
watched on from the sidelines as City demolished Norwich at the weekend
with Romanian international Costel Pantilimon taking his place, the
England keeper paying the price for a spell of indifferent form and a number of costly errors - culminating in Fernando Torres' winner in the recent Premier League defeat against Chelsea. And City boss
Pellegrini has declared that having been the undisputed No. 1 for the
past two-three years, his future as a starter is now by no means
certain.
"I don't know when Joe will come back to the team," said Pellegrini.
"It is very important for him to have a rest. He has played all the matches in the last two and a half years.
"We will see in the future what we must do. For today, Pantilimon is playing."
City
head into the game against the Russian side knowing that a victory will
all but guarantee their place in the knockout stages of the competition
for the first time, but they'll once more have to make do without
skipper Vincent Kompany.
The Belgian defender continues to be
sidelined with a troublesome groin problem while Stevan Jovetic, a
summer signing from Fiorentina, is also out. Three weeks out: Talented striker Stevan Jovetic faces further time out injured
Robert Cianflone
The Montenegrin international forward has been plagued by injury
troubles since arriving at the Etihad Stadium and was substituted after
just 10 minutes of last week's Capital One Cup win at Newcastle.
"Jovetic has at least three weeks (out)," added Pellegrini.
"Except Vincent Kompany and Richard Wright, all the other players are fit."
And
the Chilean manager dismissed concerns over the fitness of another
summer signing, striker Alvaro Negredo, saying the Spaniard was
substituted early during the 7-0 stuffing of Chris Hughton's Canaries this past weekend after feeling the effects of playing extra time at Newcastle.
He
said: "Alvaro is okay, he doesn't have any problem. He just played 45
minutes because he played 115 minutes three days before."
Provisional
squad: Pantilimon, Hart, Richards, Zabaleta, Lescott, Kolarov, Clichy,
Demichelis, Nastasic, Boyata, Milner, Nasri, Garcia, Navas, Rodwell,
Silva, Fernandinho, Toure, Negredo, Dzeko, Aguero.
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