Sergio Aguero's Injury Isn't the End of the World for Manchester City

Manchester City have suffered from a few problems this season, from the troubling mistakes of Eliaquim Mangala to the occasionally subdued form of Yaya Toure, but the injury to Sergio Aguero ranks up there with the worst of them.

The importance of Aguero, arguably the best striker in the Premier League, to City is obvious. And if it still needed to be illustrated, then simply watching their Champions League game against Bayern Munich, which the Argentinian basically won single-handedly, should be enough.

The length of time Aguero could be out with the knee injury suffered against Everton last weekend is currently unclear. Ian Ladyman in the Daily Mail suggested on Monday he could be out for longer than the original estimate of a month, noting that "the injury is similar to the one David Silva suffered on October 29 and the Spaniard has not played since."

City manager Manuel Pellegrini isn't even sure at the time of writing, saying in the Guardian that it could be anything between four to six weeks.

Pellegrini's recounting of the injury wasn't particularly encouraging for City fans, either. "I have spoken to Sergio, he was in the dressing room," Pellegrini said after the game against Everton, as quoted by ESPN. "He had pain in his knee and he told us he felt something strange happen."

Jon Super/Associated Press

Indeed, this is the latest in a series of injuries that Aguero has suffered since moving to England in 2011. As Nick Ames in the Guardian noted, this is the 15th separate ailment to have befallen Aguero in three-and-a-half seasons, causing him to miss 31 games for City, and a few others for Argentina.

This is concerning for City, but also could be oddly comforting for them, because despite being without their primary goal threat for such long periods, they have still won the Premier League title twice. Pellegrini said this week, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News:

"

Every big team must have important players like Sergio. I suppose Ronaldo is very important for Real Madrid, Messi is very important for Barcelona but neither of those teams are all about just one player.

Well, we would prefer to play with Sergio but if he cannot play we must try to continue the same way we have been playing in the last week. Remember, last season we played a lot of games without Sergio—and these are the same players and the same team.

"

To back up Pellegrini's point, 20 of the games he missed were last season alone, from five separate injuries including a calf strain, a couple of hamstring problems and a pulled groin.

They still managed to hold off the significant title challenge of Liverpool, and for anyone who says that Brendan Rodgers' side threw away top spot, remember that City won their last five league games and only lost one of their last 13, against Liverpool.

On Wednesday night, a City team shorn of Aguero's services claimed a 2-0 victory at Roma to progress to the last 16 of the Champions League, courtesy of goals from Samir Nasri and Pablo Zabaleta.

Riccardo De Luca/Associated Press

And some of City's other issues are clearing up. Nasri is back in the team after a slow and injury-hit start to the season and made a significant impact in the Italian capital. Toure has shown glimpses of his best form, while David Silva came off the bench against Roma after his spell out with a knee injury.

Add to that one or two signs that the previously impregnable Chelsea could have some vulnerabilities, with City closing to within three points of Jose Mourinho's side after they drew with Sunderland and lost to Newcastle United, and things suddenly aren't looking so bleak for their title chances, even without their striker.

The loss of Aguero is clearly a big problem for Pellegrini and City, but it is a long way from being the killer blow that it might otherwise have been.