Yaya Toure is sidelined for a fortnight because of the "muscle injury" he suffered in Manchester City's 3-2 defeat at Liverpool as Manuel Pellegrini defiantly insisted his side can still win the championship.

Toure, whose 18 goals make him the Premier League's third highest scorer, behind only Luis Suarez and his Liverpool strike partner Daniel Sturridge, lasted only 19 minutes of Sunday's game at Anfield before he had to be replaced. Pellegrini said: "Yaya has a muscle injury and we'll see with the doctor (about) how many days (he will miss), he's not so bad as we thought. He will miss at least 10 days, two weeks."

Vincent Kompany, who was at least partially culpable for all three of Liverpool's goals, most notably Coutinho's 78th-minute winner, entered the match as an injury concern following a knock to his knee during Saturday's training session. But he and Sergio Aguero, who came on as a 68th-minute substitute following a hamstring injury, are available for Sunderland's visit on Wednesday evening. "Kompany is OK, fit (for tomorrow), he is on the squad list. Sergio also," said the manager.

Of the title race, Pellegrini said: “We will fight to the end to win the title. The important thing is that we win our games. We cannot do anything about other teams. We didn’t deserve to lose that game (against Liverpool) but that’s football. It’s just one point behind Liverpool.”