MANUEL PELLEGRINI is sweating on the fitness of Man City duo David Silva and Yaya Toure ahead of the Manchester derby.
Both players limped out of City’s Capital One Cup fourth-round defeat at home to Newcastle last night.
Goals from Rolando Aarons and Moussa Sissoko gave Alan Pardew’s side a deserved 2-0 victory and heaped pressure on Etihad boss Pellegrini.
City have now failed to win any of their last three games and their disappointment could worsen with Silva and Toure major injury doubts.
Silva came off after just eight minutes with a knee problem, while Toure was replaced on the hour mark with a groin complaint.
Silva and Toure may need to pass late fitness tests, while Frank Lampard (thigh) is expected to miss Sunday’s derby.
City’s latest loss comes after they suffered a shock 2-1 defeat at West Ham and threw away a 2-0 lead against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League.
And Pellegrini admitted: “We are not playing well. We are in a difficult moment with a lack of trust. We are conceding too-easy goals and we are not scoring the chances we have to score.
“I don’t know if it is the worst performance of our team but we’ve had three games in a week and they have been very similar – we conceded two goals in each too easily and had a lot of chances in the three games to score and didn’t so it’s a difficult moment. There’s a lack of confidence but we are going to recover.”
Source: Express