MANCHESTER -- Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini says Stevan Jovetic could be fit to face West Bromwich Albion on Dec. 26 to help ease the club's injury crisis up front.
Jovetic, 25, will miss Saturday's Premier League game against Crystal Palace with the hamstring problem he sustained during the 2-0 Champions League win against Roma last week.
And City will be without all three of their senior strikers against the Eagles, with both Sergio Aguero and Edin Dzeko unlikely to play again until 2015.
But Pellegrini thinks Jovetic could be available for the games against West Brom and Sunderland, who visit the Etihad Stadium on Dec. 28.
"Maybe Stevan Jovetic can be fit next week," he told a news conference. "The other two [Aguero and Dzeko], I don't think will be able to play this year."
City could play with a "false nine" against Palace -- with the likes of Samir Nasri and James Milner being considered for the role -- but Pellegrini conceded it is not a tactic he likes.
"It is a system you can play," he said. "Maybe it is not one I prefer to play, but more than a system this team always has a lot of different players who are scoring -- our full-backs, our midfielders. So it is important to have a massive arrival to the other box, so we have different options, with shooting and different things."
Frank Lampard could be in his last two weeks as a City player if his loan deal from New York City FC is not extended.
However, Pellegrini said he wants to keep the 36-year-old, who has scored six goals since arriving at the club in the summer, until May.
"Frank is a very important player," he said. "I hope he will continue here from now until the end of the season."
Pellegrini revealed that Lampard has said he wants to carry on playing for City, adding: "Yes, he has."
The City boss went on to say that it is up to Premier League leaders Chelsea to prove they can succeed where Arsenal failed by maintaining a lead in the division from the early weeks to become champions.
Jose Mourinho's team have been top for virtually all of the campaign, but Arsene Wenger's side led the way in the first half of the 2013-14 season, before ending up seven points behind eventual winners City.
Pellegrini said: "Arsenal had a very similar number of points last season as Chelsea have now at this moment. So we'll see what happens in the second half and how many points you need to win. Maybe Arsenal last season couldn't do it in the second half but we don't know what Chelsea will do this year."