Manuel Pellegrini has explained his reasons for leaving Vincent Kompany out of his starting line-up.

The manager also revealed the confusion over Kevin De Bruyne's substitution, in which Yaya Toure believed he was the player coming off.

After the match, Pellegrini described the mix up, saying: "It was a very close game and it was very difficult to create chances. It was important to go.

"The confusion was that Yaya was not the substitute! Into the break level and I think in the second half it was very hard for either side to create any clear-cut opportunity nothing more.

"Nicolas Otamendi and Eliaquim Mangala have been playing well and were in the side that beat Newcastle 6-1 and Bournemouth 5-1 so they deserved to continue. But we kept going and in the last ten minutes we had made more chances to win the game and eventually scored again."

Speaking about Kompany's initial exclusion from the starting lineup Pellegrini explained: "Vincent is just coming back from a month out with injury and that's why he started as a substitute."

Kompany is expected to return to the City XI for their derby match with Manchester United on Sunday.