Manchester City

The Argentine striker has been the focal point of Mancini’s attack this season, with seven league goals so far, and has played in all but two of City’s fixtures to date but the Italian boss believes his squad can cope without the talismanic presence of Tevez.

The 26-year-old came to City’s rescue last weekend with a brace as the Eastlands side recorded a 3-2 victory over Blackpool despite a below-par performance but Mancini is confident the likes of David Silva, who also netted in the victory over the Seasiders, and former Arsenal frontman Emmanuel Adebayor can step up and fill the void left by Tevez.

“I will probably rest Carlos on Thursday or Sunday,” Mancini told the Daily Mirror.

“I will speak with Carlos and we will decide. Out of the games, there will probably be one for which Carlos will stay on the bench, because he needs to recover.

“Carlos is a key player for us, but then for us all the players did well at Blackpool. There were other good performances as well as Carlos.

“Manu Adebayor worked so hard, probably the defenders were tired by the time Silva came on. Silva is also very important for us. He’s a fantastic player.”

Mancini claims he could rest the striker in Sunday’s crucial Premier League encounter with Arsenal at Eastlands but it would appear more likely Tevez will sit out on Thursday against Lech Poznan (Match Betting – City 2/9, draw 5/1, Lech Poznan 12/1).

The Italian tactician has named strong starting line-ups for both the Europa League group fixtures his side have played so far, against Juventus and SV Salzburg, but the Polish outfit are perhaps the weakest team in Group A and Mancini may decide to hand some of his fringe players the chance to shine on Thursday.

City currently lie second in the Europa League Group A table, level on four points with current leaders Lech Poznan who have drawn with Italian giants Juventus and beaten SV Salzburg in their two European encounters so far (City 5/1f – Europa League outright).

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