Manchester City's 1-0 win over Leicester City was marred by dark clouds for the defending Premier League champions as manager Manuel Pellegrini fears that Edin Dzeko and Vincent Kompany would not join the team until the New Year, having joined the injury list.
Striker Dzeko pulled a calf muscle, while skipper Kompany suffered a recurrence of a hamstring injury in the warm-up of their win at Leicester. After the 1-0 victory at the King Power Stadium, Pellegrini feared the worst, saying that he thought it impossible both would play again this year.
Bosnian Dzeko, who looked set for a long run in the side following injuries to fellow strikers Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic, went down moments before kick-off, The BBC reported.
Pellegrini said that now they are without Aguero, Dzeko and Jovetic for more than a couple of weeks, admitting that it's a difficult situation but they would see the best way to resolve it.
Central defender Kompany started after missing the last three matches with a hamstring strain but aggravated the injury with 14 minutes remaining. Pellegrini said that he thinks Kompany felt again a problem in his hamstring and that is why the skipper didn't play on Wednesday because it was too soon.
The Chilean admitted that Kompany thought he was ready to play, and the skipper had said that he was available to play but could not play the whole game and they saw what happened to him.
Pellegrini would step up his attempts to extend Frank Lampard's stay with the champions following the expiration of his loan deal from sister club New York City. His side will face Crystal Palace and Burnley at home and West Bromwich Albion away before the end of September, the report added.