Manuel Pellegrini insists Frank Lampard is in no danger of missing his return to Stamford Bridge despite limping out of Wednesday night’s 2-0 win over Hamburg in Al Ain.
The former Chelsea star suffered a muscle injury in the warm-up at the Hazza Bin Zayed Stadium but told Pellegrini he wanted to play before being forced off after just 20 minutes.
City depart the UAE on Friday ahead of a home FA Cup fourth round tie with Middlesbrough and then their massive Premier League trip to Lampard’s old club Chelsea the following weekend.
And Pellegrini refused to rule the 36-year-old out of either game.
He said: “Frank was injured in the warm-up. He felt some problem in his muscle but I don’t think it will be very serious. We took him off just as a precaution.
“I hope that he will be fit, not only for Chelsea, but for the FA Cup.
“It was just a small problem, but he asked to try to play. After that he told us it was impossible but I don’t think that it will be a very important injury and we hope that we can have him for Saturday.”
City fielded a mixture of youth and experience as goals from Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko made the difference against the Bundesliga outfit.
The English champions were without their African Cup of Nations stars, including new signing Wilfried Bony.
The Ivorian arrived from Swansea for a fee of £28 million (Dh155m) earlier this week and Pellegrini added that he expected that to be the end of their January business.
“For the moment, no,” said the Chilean when asked about the possibility of new faces.
“We have time before the end of the transfer window but we are not thinking about any names.”
After this weekend’s FA Cup tie, attentions will quickly turn to City’s trip to West London.
Jose Mourinho’s side currently enjoy a five-point cushion at the top of the table, but Pellegrini refused to label the game a must-win for his team
“I think it’s a very important game, but it’s not the last game,” he added.
“We hope that we are not going to lose that game but if we don’t win we will continue fighting for the title because you never know what happens in football.”
He said the warm weather break in the UAE had benefitted his players.
“The camp and the game was very useful for our team. We had a break from the Premier League and we are working well and we played a good and useful friendly against Hamburg.”
