Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini has revealed that club captain Vincent Kompany was dropped from their match against Leicester City yesterday in order to refresh the side.

Kompany, who arrived at the Etihad Stadium from German Bundesliga outfit Hamburg in the summer of 2008, played a stellar role in Manchester City’s Premier League wins in 2012 and 2014.




But the defender’s form of late has been a cause for concern for the Citizens and their consecutive losses to Barcelona in the Champions League and Liverpool in the Premier League led to Pellegrini naming the club captain on the substitutes' bench last night.

With Martin Demichelis and summer arrival Eliaquim Mangala partnering in central defence, Manchester City kept a clean against the Foxes on the way to a 2-0 win, which keeps the defending champions five points adrift of Chelsea at the top of the table.
 


Pellegrini said that the Belgium international didn’t mind sitting out the match as he attempted to “refresh the team.”

relatedNewsStory

“He took it very well and without any problems”, Pellegrini was quoted as saying by the BBC.

“It was to refresh the team as it was for all those players.”

However, the former Real Madrid manager remained non-committal on Kompany’s possible return to the first team action when Manchester City next play Burnley on 14th March.

“We will work Thursday and Friday then after the weekend we will start preparing for the next game”, Pellegrini concluded.

Don't bet on football until you've visited Inside Bet! Interesting markets, top tips, betting facts – get all the info before you bet.