Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany ruled out of Sunderland tie with 10th calf injury

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany has suffered his 10th calf injury in three seasons

VINCENT KOMPANY'S 10th calf injury in the last three seasons will rule him out of Manchester City's bid to keep a sixth successive Premier League clean sheet.

 

Kompany's misfortune will mean £32m new boy Nicolas Otamendi will make his debut a month after his £32m move from Valencia with City boss Manuel Pellegrini forced to change his back four for the first time this season.

But Pellegrini insists Kompany's latest calf problem is not serious. He will definitely miss Tuesday's Capital One Cup third round trip to Sunderland but could be fit for next Saturday's trip to Tottenham.

 

Kompany joins an injury list that also includes Samir Nasri, Pablo Zabaleta, Gael Clichy and Fabian Delph.

"Vincent is not fit for the game," said Pellegrini. "I am sure he will not be fit for next Tuesday and we will see how he recovers in the week to see if he is fit for Tottenham.

"It is always a blow when you miss important players, especially the captain, and also in a moment when we have not conceded any goals in our first five Premier League games.

"Kompany has suffered lot of injuries over the years But that is why I always say it is important to have a squad with two players for each position.

"Otamendi now has an opportunity to demonstrate why he is here. He is an expereince dplayer, he had a really good season with Valencia last season and he knows [Eliaquim] Mangala [City's other centre back] from their time at Porto before."

The good news for City is that Sergio Aguero is fit to start after being on the bench for the midweek Champions League defeat to Juventus following a painful blow on his knee at Selhurtst Park last weekend.

He added: "Sergio has recovered very well. He is 100 per cent and will play without any problems."

City, the only team of the 92 League clubs not to concede a goal this season, could open up a 14-point gap on last season's champions Chelsea if they beat West Ham and Jose Mourinho's team lose in the early kick-off to Arsenal.

But he is wary of the threat posed by Slaven Bilic's Hammers following their shock wins at Arsenal and Liverpool.

"West Ham are doing very well this season, especially playing away," he said.

"It is not easy to win two games against important rivals like Arsenal and Liverpool and without conceding a goal. They have nine pointsin the table, good total and good players and they are playing very well.

"It was not down to luck that they won those games. We know we must be very careful about their counter-attacks and set-pieces and try to be a balanced team during the whole game. We must try to attack from everywhere."