The Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has said that he hopes that the striker Sergio Aguero will be available for the team in time for the match against Arsenal in a fortnight. City will be playing in this crucial away match looking to stay in touch with United at the top of the table.

They are already seven points behind their arch rivals and anymore dropped points will hand over the title to United. Aguero has been one of the important players for City since arriving in a £ 38 million deal from Atletico Madrid. However, he suffered a hamstring injury in the recent 3-0 win over Stoke and he is set to miss the FA Cup third-round match did this weekend.

Due to the incredible squad strength of City, the club will be able to cope with the absence of the player for the FA cup match against Championship club Watford. However, playing against Arsenal is a different story. Arsene Wenger's men will come into the match on the back of four successive victories in the league, which have once again helped them recover from the poor start made to the season. Mancini has a number of injury problems to deal with at this stage of the season.

"Sergio is out for tomorrow. We hope he can recover for Arsenal. We don't have enough players to play 40 days without Yaya, without Kolo, with eight players injured. We need players in, not out. Tomorrow [for Watford] we have 16 [senior players]. We have to put two young players on the bench. I respect him as a player when we play and as a manager. I think he did a good job for West Ham and now for Watford," said Mancini. City currently second in the table and have a six-point advantage over Tottenham.