By Jamie Jackson in London/theguardian.com


Sergio Aguero is fit for Manchester City’s late kick-off with Liverpool today following a hamstring injury that has ruled him out of the club’s last nine matches, though David Silva and Vincent Kompany are unavailable due to their respective ankle and calf problems.
“Sergio is fit,” said Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini.
“He is ready to come back. David continues with some small pain in his ankle so I think it is a risk for him to play.
“Unfortunately Samir Nasri is injured and [Wilfried] Bony continues [with a hamstring problem] and Vincent Kompany. Both of them are out.”
Since Agüero has been absent City have qualified for the Champions League knockout stage with two games to spare, they are in the Capital One Cup quarter-finals and lead the Premier League.
“I always answer about the question the same thing,” said Pellegrini.
“I think that we not only demonstrate now that without Sergio [or] any important players,
we can play. This year we have a lot of important injuries, not only
Sergio, also David, Samir Nasri, Gael Clichy the whole season, Fernando for a month and a half, [Pablo] Zabaleta played two games in the season, that is why we have a squad.
“One of the merits of this team is it doesn’t just depend on one or two players but of course I think this team is better with Kun.”
Liverpool’s visit to the Etihad Stadium should allow Raheem Sterling to face his former club for the first time. The forward left for £50m in acrimonious circumstances after Sterling agitated publicly for a transfer.
“I always think it is special for the player to play against [his former side]. Not only Raheem, but all the players to play against the team they work for many players,” said Pellegrini.
“Maybe for James Milner it will be exactly the same but those situations are part of the career of the player. They are now defending another shirt.
“I always say that Raheem is a very young player. He must improve a lot and in important things. It is important also he can demonstrate in every game because I am very happy with the way he is playing so far that he is an important player and will be more important in the future.”
Pellegrini stated time would prove if Sterling could become as influential as Aguero and Yaya Toure for City.
“It depends on the way he improves but the important thing is he just 20 years old,” said the
Chilean. “He has a lot of years to work. He will be a very important player not only for Man City but for England.”
Of the meeting with Liverpool, Pellegrini said: “I think that one of the most important things in important games is to have a cold mind, maybe a hot heart but a cold mind, because there are a lot of mistakes, that is so important that I hope we can do it.”