• Manchester City captain to miss visit of West Ham because of calf problem • Nicolás Otamendi likely to make first start since £32m move from Valencia

Manuel Pellegrini believes Vincent Kompany’s intensity makes the defender vulnerable to injury, though he says it is difficult to ask Manchester City’s captain to change his approach.

Kompany will miss Saturday’s game against West Ham United and Tuesday’s Capital One Cup trip to Sunderland because of a calf problem, and will be assessed before next weekend’s game at Tottenham Hotspur.

Kompany suffered the injury in the 2-1 defeat by Juventus in the Champions League group match. It was the 10th time he has injured a calf in three and a half years, the first being in March 2012. His absence means Pellegrini will have to break up a defence that has kept five clean sheets in the five Premier League matches and was also in place against Juventus.

The manager shrugged off the number of calf issues Kompany has had, and pointed to how the Belgian approaches his game. “The way he plays, Vincent plays with 100% intensity, not just every game but every training session,” Pellegrini said. “That’s the way he always works.”

Asked if he had ever requested Kompany to ease off, the Chilean said: “It’s difficult. It is not easy for him. He tries sometimes not to be always 100% intensity, but you cannot change.

“It is always important [not] to have injured players, especially the captain and especially in a moment when we didn’t concede any goals in the first five games. I think it is important to carry on playing with the same names but I always say we have a squad.”

Pellegrini is unsure if Kompany may have to start managing his calves to try to militate against problems. “It’s impossible for me to know what will happen in the future,” he said. “I don’t think it’s an important injury, just a precaution as he’s not feeling 100% to play again but I am sure he is improving and he will not have so many injuries as the past two seasons.”

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Kompany’s absence means Nicolás Otamendi should make his first start following the £32m transfer from Valencia. “It is important for Nicolás Otamendi to have his opportunity to demonstrate why he is here and Martín Demichelis to return to his performance last season,” Pellegrini said. “We have a squad and we need to replace the captain.”

He said Pablo Zabaleta, Gaël Clichy, Fabian Delph and Samir Nasir were out but Sergio Agüero was “100% and will play without any problems”.

Kevin De Bruyne could be named in the XI for a full debut. “He is adapting quickly to our system,” Pellegrini said. “Maybe he doesn’t dominate all the [play] that we do but he is an important player and he demonstrates especially against Crystal Palace that he can play. We will see tomorrow the 11 starters.

“I am very happy [with him] because, same as Raheem Sterling, we didn’t have players with their characteristics so they give another option to our squad.”