Pellegrini confirms Toure will play, Mangala injured for Spurs match

There's good news on the Manchester City lineups for tomorrow's match, and there's bad news. City manager Manuel Pellegrini gave an interview with the media where he confirmed that defender Eliaquim Mangala has a small injury that will keep him out of the side against Tottenham.

The situation about all the players is good. We have just a small problem with Mangala, who has a small muscle injury, but I think he will be fit without any problems for Tuesday.

That's good news for everybody – Mangala's injury isn't serious and he should be back to full fitness shortly (since we never wish injury on opposition players), and Spurs will not have to contend with his stout defensive acumen when they meet at the Etihad on Saturday.

Now, the bad news: in the same news conference, Pellegrini stated that Yaya Toure will be in the Manchester City side and will not be rested after playing in African Cup of Nations qualifying this week.

All the other players are okay,’ added Pellegrini. ‘Of course it’s not easy to see what is the best starting XI for Saturday when you have so many players arriving on different days of the week. Tomorrow we will decide...

Yaya arrived yesterday [Thursday] with Aleksandar Kolarov and Matija Nastasic. Other players arrived on Wednesday and others on Tuesday. All of them are in the squad list.

Toure was very late in getting back from international duty so there was some question as to whether he would be rested for this match in order to concentrate on City's important Champions League match in Moscow on Tuesday. Pellegrini doesn't state whether Toure will start, but come on, if he's fit enough to make the side he's probably going to start. Those who were hoping for a Fernando-Fernandinho (can you hear the drums?) midfield, or one featuring Frank Lampard, are likely to be disappointed. Let's hope Yaya is sufficiently jet-lagged that he isn't able to break Ryan Mason over his knee Knightfall-style.