Leicester vs Manchester City: Manuel Pellegrini seeks cure for Vincent Kompany’s frailties

Kompany lasted just eight minutes on his return from injury before going off again and will miss Tuesday's clash with leaders Leicester

Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany walks off minutes after coming on against Sunderland (Getty Images)

Manchester City’s medical staff will attempt to find the root causes behind Vincent Kompany’s recurring calf injuries as the club prepares for Tuesday’s top-of-the-table encounter with Leicester.

After watching him come off eight minutes into his comeback, his manager, Manuel Pellegrini, conceded that the injury to City’s captain could not have come at a worse time. Their game at Leicester is the first of a hectic programme they are due to play before the end of January and the first four matches are away.

“We are trying to understand why he has so many injuries to his calf,” said Pellegrini after the 4-1 win over Sunderland. “We are going to do all the tests he needs to understand why.”

Kompany issued an emotional statement on his Facebook page, writing: “Today was a bad day for me. I will fight to get what I deserve – my best years in football. My body feels invincible, the best it has ever been, but I am challenged by a number of small, local injuries. It leaves me more frustrated than with any of the ‘big’ injuries I’ve had but it’s a challenge I will overcome.”

The game was so one-sided that Pellegrini could have employed a couple of dustbins as centre-backs and still won but Manchester City’s figures without Kompany are so stark that he has become something of a talisman.

In the eight league games Kompany has started, City have conceded one goal and taken 2.5 points per game. Without him, it has been 19 goals conceded in 10 fixtures and 1.5 points per match.

It is much more complex than that, of course – you have to factor in Sergio Aguero’s absences – but the fact remains that Manchester City look far more like a title-winning team when Kompany plays.

“He is very important because first of all he is the captain,” said Pellegrini. “He is captain because he has a lot of important things to give – his performance, his personality. We have to play so many games in January that it was important to have had him fully recovered.”

January is likely to be a busy time for Sam Allardyce, but for very different reasons. The Sunderland manager had been plagued by players demanding to know why they were not being chosen. He had picked them and they had produced this capitulation.

He would now be looking to buy centre-halves and he would probably be shopping abroad. When asked if keeping Sunderland in the Premier League would be his most daunting challenge, Allardyce replied: “It looks like it.”