The Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said that the England midfielder James Milner is not likely to be part of the squad that will face Everton during the weekend. This is an extremely crucial match for City given that Everton were the last team to beat them at the Etihad stadium almost 2 years ago. The 26-year-old has been one of the first-team regulars under Roberto Mancini, but he has suffered an injury that will keep him out of this match. Milner suffered the hamstring injury in the 2-0 win over Wigan last weekend.
He has not recovered sufficiently in time to face Everton, who are looking to finish in the top four this season. The midfielder is likely to return to the first-team back in time for the Manchester derby next weekend according to Mancini. This is an extremely crucial game given that United are likely to come into this match with a three-point advantage, but in order to ensure that the gap remains three points before the start of the match, City need to win their match in hand against Everton. It will certainly be an extremely difficult match according to Mancini, who has been under pressure in recent weeks following the Champions League exit from the group stages itself.
“James is out for tomorrow. We will try to recover him for next Sunday but we don’t know. It is normal. He played against Chelsea and played very well. He came back after injury, now he played 20 minutes and had a hamstring (injury). We are disappointed because James was in good form in this moment,” said the City manager ahead of Everton match. Milner was one of the scorers in the match against Wigan last weekend, but went off injured immediately after scoring. City are unbeaten so far this season.