Manchester City must cope without Vincent Kompany

Manchester City 4 Sunderland 1: As Vincent Kompany hobbled back to the dressing room after his planned return from injury ended prematurely, Manuel Pellegrini was left to wrestle with an increasingly familiar problem.

Kompany’s continuing injury problems are a growing concern for the Manchester City manager, who will be anxious to learn the full extent of the recurrence of his captain’s calf injury.

Whatever the outcome of the latest round of examinations, however, Pellegrini knows his side must learn to cope more effectively without the centre-back than they have done so far this season.