MANCHESTER, United Kingdom // Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini claims he has complete faith in French defender Eliaquim Mangala ahead of the Premier League clash with Crystal Palace at Eastlands on Saturday.
City captain Vincent Kompany has been ruled out until the start of 2015 with a recurrence of a hamstring problem, so Mangala will get a run of games at centre-back alongside Martin Demichelis.
And Pellegrini believes the France international, who joined the English champions from Porto during the close season for £24.3 million ($38 million), will prove his worth during a hectic festive period after struggling at times in his first season in the Premier League.
“Of course we have a lot of trust in Mangala. That’s why we bought him,” Pellegrini said.
“Maybe he has made some mistakes in the Premier League and maybe he has delayed a bit to be settled here.
“But we continue to trust in him because I am sure he is a very good player, he is a very young player and he will be a very important centre-back for our team.”
City are also set be without influential forward Sergio Aguero against Palace as he recovers from a knee injury.
But Pellegrini remains confident that the Argentina international will be fit in time for City’s Champions League tie with Barcelona in February.
“Sergio has a torn ligament and I think it will be long before the Champions League tie against Barcelona, probably in the first weeks of January, that he will play,” Pellegrini added.
City are without all three of their main strikers at the moment, with Edin Dzeko (calf) and Stevan Jovetic (hamstring) also both set to be absent through injury this weekend.
Pellegrini is contemplating whether or not to use midfielders David Silva, Samir Nasri or James Milner out of position in attack against Palace, while 18-year-old forward Jose Angel Pozo remains another option.
“We will see what works and which players will play in that position,” Pellegrini said.
“At the moment, we are trying to keep our minds open and recover as soon as we can with all the players, because we have few strikers.”
Palace boss Neil Warnock insists his side will travel to Manchester convinced they can dent second placed City’s hopes of catching leaders Chelsea.
The south London club have lost just one of their last five league games but remain in the thick of the relegation battle, positioned one point and two places above the bottom three.
“City are just hitting that form aren’t they? It’s always difficult to go to there with them being the champions as well and playing some wonderful football,” Warnock said.
“But we’ve been playing well. I know we haven’t scored the goals that our play has warranted really. I don’t think we have any fear.
“We realise we’ve really got to be on top of our game if we’re going to come away with anything.
“We know our goalkeeper has got to play well, we know our back four has got to play well and we’ve got to create chances.
“So it’s a matter of we’ve all got to be on top form and hope that one or two of their lads are a bit below.”
Warnock has ruled out a loan move for former England left-back Ashley Cole who has struggled to establish himself with Italian club AS Roma.
“We have already been told that there is no way he is coming back. He is enjoying himself over there. I don’t think there is any chance whatsoever,” Warnock added.
English Premier League fixtures (all UAE times)
Saturday
Manchester City v Crystal Palace, 4.45pm
Aston Villa v Manchester United, 7pm
Hull City v Swansea City, 7pm
Queens Park Rangers v West Bromwich Albion, 7pm
Southampton v Everton, 7pm
Tottenham Hotspur v Burnley, 7pm
West Ham United v Leicester City, 7pm
Sunday
Newcastle United v Sunderland, 5.30pm
Liverpool v Arsenal, 8pm
Monday
Stoke City v Chelsea, midnight
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COMPANY PROFILE
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Launched: 2014
Employees: 60
Based: Abu Dhabi
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Match info
Uefa Champions League Group F
Manchester City v Hoffenheim, midnight (Wednesday, UAE)
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Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
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At a glance
Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year
Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month
Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30
Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse
Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth
Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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UAE cricketers abroad
Sid Jhurani is not the first cricketer from the UAE to go to the UK to try his luck.
Rameez Shahzad Played alongside Ben Stokes and Liam Plunkett in Durham while he was studying there. He also played club cricket as an overseas professional, but his time in the UK stunted his UAE career. The batsman went a decade without playing for the national team.
Yodhin Punja The seam bowler was named in the UAE’s extended World Cup squad in 2015 despite being just 15 at the time. He made his senior UAE debut aged 16, and subsequently took up a scholarship at Claremont High School in the south of England.
The biog
Family: He is the youngest of five brothers, of whom two are dentists.
Celebrities he worked on: Fabio Canavaro, Lojain Omran, RedOne, Saber Al Rabai.
Where he works: Liberty Dental Clinic
