Manchester City without David Silva and Sergio Agüero for key games

Manchester City will be without David Silva as well as Sergio Agüero for the visit of Bournemouth and Manuel Pellegrini confirmed the latter could be out for a fortnight, meaning his side will be under strength for the key games against Sevilla and Manchester United in the next week.

“Agüero has a muscle injury and I don’t think he will be back inside a month, and Silva came back from international duty with a kick on the ankle,” the City manager said of the Argentina and Spain players. “Like Aleksandar Kolarov, he could be out for two weeks.”

The better news for the league leaders is that Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri have both recovered, and Vincent Kompany may be available after playing for Belgium against Israel in midweek, though Pellegrini is far from happy that his captain was brought back from injury by his national side when there was no real need.

“We were happy for him to join up with his national squad, we would never prevent him from doing that, but we sent him with a medical note advising them not to play him,” Pellegrini said. “Belgium then said they could do whatever they wanted, which it seems is the case.”

Pellegrini will make his own assessment of Kompany’s fitness before deciding whether to play him in the Bournemouth game, which he is careful to stress may not be the foregone conclusion the league table might suggest.

“It could be like the West Ham game, “ he said, referring to an unforeseen home defeat earlier in the season. “Bournemouth have had two weeks to prepare for this game, and they have the advantage of working with their whole squad over that period.”

City, in contrast, have to wait for most of their squad to return from international engagements all over the world.

Meanwwhile, Gordon Strachan has signed a two-year extension to his contract as Scotland manager, the Scottish FA has announced. Guardian Service