• Premier League

Tevez could return for City against Chelsea

ESPN staff
March 14, 2012
Carlos Tevez could feature against Chelsea next week © Getty Images
Enlarge

Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has revealed that Carlos Tevez could return to first-team action against Chelsea next week.

Tevez has not played a competitive game for the club since refusing to warm-up as a substitute in September's Champions League group stage clash against Bayern Munich, eventually returning to Argentina for a number of weeks as his relationship with the City hierarchy soured.

An apology from the player last month finally paved the way for a return to Mancini's squad, however, and the Italian now believes Tevez could be involved in the Premier League game against the Blues on March 21 as he increases his workload in training.

"We will see in the next week whether Carlo will be okay," Mancini said, when asked if Tevez could face the Blues. "Probably [he will be]. But it depends on a lot of things."

First of all, however, City face Sporting in the second leg of their Europa League tie on Thursday. Tevez is ineligible, while Mancini revealed that Gareth Barry, Vincent Kompany and Pablo Zabaleta will also be unavailable due to injury.

Joleon Lescott could be called upon, however, after he recovered from a groin injury. City are reeling after losing top spot in the Premier League following last weekend's defeat to Swansea - following a first leg loss to Sporting in Portugal - but Mancini is refusing to panic.

"In Portugal and against Swansea we didn't play a very good game," Mancini said. "We didn't play like the usual Manchester City. We probably didn't deserve to lose both games but we need to play better.

"Now is a time to be strong and keep going because we are a top team and have time to recover.

"We are very disappointed for our supporters after Swansea because I saw on the TV one of our supporters cry. We want to win also for this guy and the other supporters.

"We are positive. We think we will win the Premier League and the Europa League. If we think a different way it will be a mistake."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices