Friday, 17 October 2014

Manuel Pellegrini: Yaya Toure ready for Tottenham, Eliaquim Mangala out

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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