Manchester City boss Sven Goran Eriksson says Elano must learn to live with the close attention he receives in the Premiership - and denies his form slide is the cause for City's drop-off.

Eriksson told City's website: "That may be too simple, I remember the games from early this season when he was allowed to do his thing, but there was no chance of that against Wigan.

"Sides make sure they stay close to him, and the treatment they give him is not the nicest, but it's another thing that both the team and Elano himself have to live with because he is too good a player to be left alone.

"He took a knock from (Michael) Brown in the first half, then when he tried a diagonal ball in the second half he felt a muscle pushing a little bit. We don't know how bad it is, but the muscle has not 'gone' as such so it's not a serious injury. But for next weekend I don't know yet."