Kompany out 4 weeks

LONDON • Manchester City are looking at another month without captain Vincent Kompany after the defender suffered a calf injury during Saturday's 4-1 Premier League win over Sunderland, manager Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed.

Tuesday's goalless draw with second-placed Leicester was Manchester City's first clean sheet in the Premier League this season without their Belgian captain.

The result also meant City finished the year third.

Kompany has missed 11 of City's 19 league games this season, and hobbled off within 10 minutes of appearing as a second-half substitute against Sunderland.

He had not played a game since the trip to Aston Villa early last month in what was City's last clean sheet.

"Vincent has an injury, second degree on his calf, so we'll see how many weeks he will be out," Pellegrini told reporters after the Leicester game.

"I do not think it will be less than three-four weeks.

"I am not a doctor, but with a muscle injury, it will be very difficult for him to be back in less than four weeks. But without him, we must continue to defend as we did tonight.

"We did more than Leicester to win the game."

City begin the new year with games against eighth-placed Watford in the league, followed by trips to Everton for a League Cup match and to Norwich in the FA Cup - all within a week.

REUTERS

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 31, 2015, with the headline Kompany out 4 weeks. Subscribe