Yaya Toure is unlikely to be rested for Manchester City's game
against Tottenham after Manuel Pellegrini confirmed the midfielder is in
the squad for Saturday's showdown.
Toure, 31, played for Ivory Coast against DR Congo in Abidjan on
Wednesday and sat out City's first game after September's international
break, the 2-2 draw against Arsenal, when he was also the last player to return to training after representing his country.
But Pellegrini has suggested a repeat is unlikely, saying in a news
conference: "Yaya arrived yesterday [Thursday] with Aleksandar Kolarov
and Matija Nastasic. Other players arrived on Wednesday and others on
Tuesday. All of them are in the squad list."
However, City will be without centre-back Eliaquim Mangala who
suffered a thigh problem while with France but he is expected to be fit
in time for the Champions League trip to CSKA Moscow on Tuesday.
Pellegrini added: "The situation about all the players is good. We
have just a small problem with Mangala that has a small muscle injury
but I think he will be fit without any problems for Tuesday."
City's only other absentee is midfielder Samir Nasri, who is recovering from groin surgery.
Frank Lampard was named City's player of the month for September after a run of four goals in three games and Pellegrini thinks he is proving an invaluable impact substitute.
He explained: "I know his quality. When you have the age of Frank
Lampard you are not able to play three games in a week but when you have
so great a player, you can resolve a lot of problems that we have
during the game and I think that Frank is doing these duties at this
moment. I am very happy with him."
The Premier League champions have started training at the new Etihad
Campus, a 200 million-pound complex which will eventually accommodate
all the club's other teams.
And Pellegrini believes City are world leaders in the quality of their facilities now.
He said: "[It is] very impressive, I think it is the best facilities
in the world. This has another dimension, we have all what you need to
work in every sense.
"All the departments of the club improve and I am sure it is a very
big step for this club to continue growing every day as they want."
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