Manuel Pellegrini is aware of the threat fellow Chilean Alexis Sanchez poses ahead of Manchester City’s clash with Arsenal.
City are narrowly behind Chelsea in the Premier League and play host to the Gunners at The Etihad on Sunday.
Pellegrini refused to compare Arsenal’s star player to Sergio Aguero but admitted Sanchez was having a stellar first season in English football.
“Alexis is repeating what he did in the last two seasons at Barcelona and scoring a lot of goals,” Pellegrini told reporters.
“I think Alexis is a very good player, he is having a very good season in England. It is not easy for a player in his first season here to score so many goals.
“I am very happy for him because he is a young, enthusiastic player and improving.”
City will welcome back Aguero and captain Vincent Kompany to the side, while Samir Nasri will be missing for three weeks with a calf problem.
Pellegrini added 26-year-old Wilfried Bony to his list of star strikers this week and was coy on whether City will look to strengthen further this month.
“We will see. At the moment we are not thinking of that,” Pellegrini added.
“I always say that the transfer window is open to the end of January so we will see what happens in future. But I think we have the squad for the rest of the season.”
The 61-year-old manager insisted Stevan Jovetic still has a role at City despite acquiring Bony for a fee of £25million upfront and a further £3million in performance-related add-ons.
He said the Ivorian striker is a direct replacement for Alvaro Negredo, who joined Valencia on loan in August with a view to a permanent move this summer.
“Bony is replacing Alvaro, not Jovetic. Stevan is a very important player for us,” said Pellegrini.
“We sold Alvaro because he had personal problems and did not want to continue here.”
Main image courtesy of JavierNathaniel, via YouTube, with thanks.
