Manuel Pellegrini denies Manchester City struggle without Vincent Kompany

Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has rubbished suggestions that the team struggle when Vincent Kompany is not playing.

The team captain has been ruled out of Tuesday's final Champions League group match against Borussia Monchengladbach with a calf injury.

In the seven Premier League games that Kompany has missed, City have won three times, lost four games, conceded 15 goals and taken nine points from 21.

In the eight top-flight fixtures that the centre-back has featured in, the team went unbeaten, winning six, conceding one goal and earning 20 points out of a possible 24.

"Last season we finished the last six games without Vincent Kompany," The Guardian quotes Pellegrini as saying. "We won the six and had four clean sheets. It depends on the performance of individual players, it depends on a lot of things. In the last two years we played a lot of games without important players."

City are currently third in the league table, three points behind leaders Leicester City.