Manchester City boss Manuel Pellegrini has confirmed that attacking midfielder Kevin De Bruyne will be out for at least eight weeks.
The Belgium international suffered a knee injury during Wednesday's League Cup semi-final victory over Everton.
He joins a number of key players on the sidelines although striker Wilfried Bony is expected to be back in a couple of weeks time.
"We knew after the game it [Kevin De Bruyne's injury] was a serious injury – not a season-ending injury as it was not a cruciate, but an important injury and will be out for 8-10 weeks," Pellegrini said.
"We must continue playing with the whole squad if we want to be a competitive team. It's an important player less but we must continue with optimism and give responsibility to the squad.
"Elsewhere, the same injuries as last week – Vincent, Mangala, Kolarov – I hope they will return next week to at least work with the squad.
"Eight to ten weeks more for Nasri and Kevin and I hope in a couple of weeks Bony will be fit again.
"It's not our intention to bring in anyone in January. In some moments we couldn't play with Sergio or David and now we play without Kevin."
