Vincent Kompany is set to miss Manchester City's next four games after manager Manuel Pellegrini said he expects his captain to be sidelined for a further two weeks.
Kompany missed City's defeats to Liverpool and Juventus with a calf injury and Pellegrini believes the Belgium international is unlikely to figure in the Premier League clashes with Southampton and Stoke, the Capital One Cup tie with Hull and the Champions League game against Borussia Monchengladbach.
"Vincent doesn't have any chance to play this week because he's not started running already, so he has two weeks more," he said in a news conference in Turin.
City are without two of their main four centre-backs, with Eliaquim Mangala also unable to play in the Juventus game.
But Pellegrini has some hope that David Silva, whose ankle injury has ruled him out of City's last nine games, could face Saints on Saturday.
"David improved a little bit more the last two days," he added. "He's working with the physio in Manchester.
"We will see. We don't have many days until Saturday, but when we arrive in Manchester we will have a look."