MANCHESTER -- Manchester City hope Vincent Kompany will be able to return for the final two games of the season, but have suffered a fresh injury blow with Samir Nasri being ruled out.
There were fears the City captain would miss the rest of the campaign after he suffered a thigh injury in their 4-2 derby defeat to Manchester United.
But manager Manuel Pellegrini thinks the centre-back is making such progress he could return at Swansea on May 16, before City's season ends eight days later against Southampton.
"Vincent has at least two weeks more [on the sidelines]," Pellegrini said in a news conference. "After this game we have to play four games more. If he can continue improving he can be [fit for the last] two games."
Midfielder Nasri is set to miss Saturday's home game against Aston Villa after he was hurt in his cameo during the 2-0 win over West Ham.
Pellegrini does not expect to be without the former France international for long, explaining: "Samir Nasri has a muscle injury, [which he suffered] in the last minute of the last game. He has a small problem. We hope it will not be too long."
City will be without four players for the Villa game with left-back Gael Clichy and forward Stevan Jovetic remaining on the sidelines.
However, striker Wilfried Bony, who has missed the last three games with an ankle injury, and James Milner, who sat out the West Ham win with his ongoing knee problem, both back in contention.
"Kompany, Clichy, Nasri and Jovetic are injured," Pellegrini added. "Bony and Milner were also injured but both of them have recovered for this game. I will never complain about the amount of injuries we have."
Pellegrini admitted that striker Edin Dzeko, who has only scored twice in his last 23 games, has had a poor year.
"It is not a good season for Edin," he added. "He had two very long injuries with muscle problems in both calves. It is not easy to recover. He is a very important player as he demonstrated a lot of times. I hope in the way he continues working every day he will recover his performance."
City are only fourth in the Premier League and Pellegrini has said he cannot be satisfied with a year when they do not win the title.
But he regretted the way he feels that City have to face defensive teams, week in, week out.
"We have made a lot of mistakes this season especially during some games but we continue being the team that plays more attractive football, that scores more goals and the team that always plays against teams with eight or nine players behind the ball because no one plays hand to hand with our team," he said.
Pellegrini described those errors as "personal mistakes, squad mistakes, players' mistakes" but said he would "always" analyse his own blunders first.
