Vincent Kompany is out of Manchester City 's Premier League clash with Liverpool , Pep Guardiola has confirmed.
City skipper Kompany played the full 90 minutes in Belgium's 9-0 World Cup qualifier win over Gibraltar in the week, but picked up a calf injury during the rout.
Guardiola said the central defender, who started City's first three games thsi season after battling injuries for the past two campaigns, will be out for a “short time”.
“Vincent played against Gibraltar, Belgium won 9-0, but he had a little problem with his calf and so I don't think he'll be able to play tomorrow,” said Guardiola.
“It will be short [time out for Kompany] but to pay the next time? I don't think he will be able to.
'The window is now over but, with or without Vincent, we thought we needed anther one [central defender], but we have players who can play in those positions.”
Guardiola also said there was no chance he would have allowed Raheem Sterling to be used as part of a player-plus-cash deal to sign Alexis Sanchez from Arsenal.
City's deadline day bid to sign Sanchez failed, but Guardiola denied he had entertained the prospect of allowing Sterling to join Arsenal to try to make the deal happen.
“In the last days, they [Arsenal] wanted to make swap with us,” said Guardiola. “I said zero chance, not even one per cent chance, because I trust Raheem.”
On whether City will pursue Sanchez again when the window reopens in January, Guardiola said:
“I don't know what's going to happen in the meantime. He's an Arsenal player.
“Of course we were interested in him, but Arsenal decided not to sell him, so I wish Alexis all the best. He's a player I knew from my time in Barcelona.
“We will see in the future. Now I'm not concerned. I am when the transfer window is open, but when the window closes, it's over for me and I'm it thinking about January or the end of the season.
“We have the guys now who can travel together to the end of the season, so we'll see [what happens].”