Manuel Pellegrini was delighted as Frank Lampard scored to hand Manchester City a 1-0 victory at Leicester City on Saturday, and hinted the club will try to prolong the midfielder's loan spell.
Lampard, 36, equalled Thierry Henry's total of 175 Premier League goals by tapping in a Samir Nasri cross on 40 minutes to keep City three points behind Premier League leaders Chelsea.
The New York City FC loanee is due to return to the new MLS club in January, though Pellegrini hopes City can extend the deal as they are facing an injury crisis while Yaya Toure is due to depart from the African Nations Cup in the New Year as well.
"When we made the decision for Frank to stay with us until December, I was sure he would be a very important player," Pellegrini told the club's official website. "We are very happy with him and we hope he can continue with us."
City qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League after beating Roma 2-0 away on Wednesday, and Pellegrini was relieved his side held on against the Foxes after their midweek excursions.
"I am very happy because today was a difficult game for us and it was a difficult week," he said. "We had to try and qualify for the Champions League, which we did, and then we had another game within 72 hours which isn't enough time to recover physically or mentally."
With Sergio Aguero and Stevan Jovetic already ruled out for City's trip to the KC Stadium, Pellegrini was dealt a further blow when Edin Dzeko was injured n the warmup, with the City boss forced to start young Jose Angel Pozo up front.
"We were very unlucky because we were without Dzeko, Aguero and Jovetic, and it is difficult to play without a striker," he said. "But we managed to score one goal.
"To win 1-0 was very important for our team and we defended very well. Normally we try to be a more attacking team, but today we couldn't because we didn't have the players. But if we have to defend, we can do that well too. I'm very happy with the whole week and with this game."
Pellegrini admits that he is short of strikers going into a busy festive period, but believes City's midfielders can follow Lampard's example and step up with more goals.
"We are without Dzeko, Aguero and Jovetic for maybe more than a couple of weeks," he continued. "We must see how long it takes Jovetic to recover. It is a difficult situation but we will see what is the best way for us to play.
"Lampard scored again which is one of the reasons he played today, because he can score and we needed a goal.
"David Silva, Samir Nasri and the rest of the midfielders can all score so we must see during the week which is the best way to play in the future until we recover our strikers."
The City boss also confirmed that captain Vincent Kompany has an injury concern after being substituted 13 minutes from the end with a hamstring complaint.
"Vincent had a problem with his hamstring, which is why he didn't play on Wednesday," he added. "Today he said he was fit to play, but he couldn't finish the game."