Bacary Sagna is ready to step into the breach as City assess the damage to skipper Vincent Kompany.

Kompany, who was taken off late in the 3-0 win at Southampton with a hamstring problem, is a doubt for tomorrow’s clash at Sunderland, although he is not expected to be a long-term absentee.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini was hopeful that the injury, which seemed to occur as he ran to congratulate Gael Clichy on City’s third goal, may only be cramp rather than any actual damage to the muscle.

But if he is forced out of tomorrow night’s difficult trip to the Stadium of Light, Pellegrini may ask French ace Sagna to step in as partner to Martin Demichelis, with Eliaquim Mangala ruled out through suspension. Pellegrini has already mentioned that Dedryck Boyata may make his first start since the 3-0 Community Shield defeat by Arsenal in August.

With Matija Nastasic also out with a calf injury, Boyata and Demichelis are the only conventional centre-halves available to Pellegrini.

But Boyata has spent the entire season either in the stands or unused on the bench, apart from a 20-minute substitute appearance in the League Cup win over Sheffield Wednesday.

Sagna has stood in for Arsenal at centre-half in the past – indeed he once harboured ambitions to make it his main position.

His last game for the Gunners saw him stand in as a centre-back in a 2-0 win at Norwich in May and last season he also played in that position in a 3-1 win at Sunderland.

That was the second time he had played central at Sunderland, after doing the same in a tough 1-0 win with ten men at the Stadium of Light in February, 2013.

After that game he spoke of his hopes that, as he was entering his 30s, he might follow fellow Frenchman Lilian Thuram by transforming from right-back into central defender.

When asked whether he felt he could end up as a centre-back, Sagna answered: “Why not? I’m getting old and at right back you need to put in a lot more effort.

“I don’t know how long I can do that to my maximum so maybe one day I will be able to play centre-back.”

Asked about playing there in the 1-0 win at Sunderland, he said: “It was a hard game…I think Laurent Koscielny got injured so I had to play centre back because we didn’t have any on the bench.

“I just stuck to it and I just tried to communicate as much as I can with Per Mertesacker because he gave me a lot of advice.

“I also tried to communicate a lot with Carl Jenkinson because he was playing in the right-back position.”

“We had a player sent off as well after one hour and it was really hard because they kept pushing but we showed great character and managed to win away.”

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said at the time he had no qualms about playing Sagna in that position saying: “I always thought he could play there one day. We pushed him in this position in training. What he showed in training was encouraging. He had no preparation.

“He was told ten minutes before the start of the game and he dealt very well with that situation, so that’s very positive.”

But Sagna and Boyata are not Pellegrini’s only options in the expected absence of Kompany.

Yaya Toure has played there in a Champions League final, when Barcelona beat United in Rome in 2009.

But he is of more value to the Blues in midfield, especially after a consummate, commanding performance in the win at Southampton.

And then there is the option of playing a 3-5-2, with which Roberto Mancini experimented, usually with bad results.

Pellegrini has never wavered from a back four during his managerial career – and he is hardly likely to do so now.