Nasri is Man City's hero as Pellegrini's Bony obsession continues to baffle

The Ivory Coast striker has rarely looked at home in a City shirt and is likely to be moved on this summer, but still he starts in place of the promising Kelechi Iheanacho

Samir Nasri showed Wilfried Bony how it's done on a day when it was the result that mattered most for Manchester City.

Nasri made his first start since September after battling back from a nasty injury that involved his tendon completely removing itself from his thigh bone, something which required around 100 stitches and six months on the sidelines.

He has worked so hard in training that Manuel Pellegrini's decision to remove him from the Champions League squad at the expense of promising striker Kelechi Iheanacho looks premature. Consulting with doctors a month ago, it seemed certain Nasri would not be able to feature in the competition's latter stages, but here he is, back in contention as his team-mates look to progress to the semi-finals.

It might be seen as hindsight in its purest form to suggest he should not have been removed in the first place but for the fact that Iheanacho doesn't look like he will be trusted to play.

Bony continues to get the nod above the 19-year-old - a typically Pellegrini decision and one that is increasingly angering supporters.

Bony simply has not settled into this City team since signing from Swansea for £30 million (including £5m VAT, it was revealed by Football Leaks) last January. He scored twice at the tail end of last season, against his former club and Saturday's opposition, West Brom.





He has hit eight this season but none since the rout of Sunderland on Boxing Day and does not look like breaking that duck. The details of the deal that brought him to the Etihad were leaked as he toiled around the pitch in a goalless draw with Norwich City last month. He did not touch the ball within five yards of the penalty box that day. 

Here, he touched it 25 times in total, ahead only of Joe Hart in the City ranks. Two of those were in the area and two of them were in the centre circle, at kick-offs.

Bony had done little to justifty his start at Norwich nearly a month ago and nothing in the interim to deserve another.

Pellegrini was brought to the club in part to nurture the young talent honing their skills at the brand new Etihad Campus but while it is unrealistic to expect swathes of teenagers to feature in the first team, nobody could say the manager has given the top talents a fair crack of the whip.

He has repeatedly praised Iheanacho, insisting that he played a personal role in the Nigerian being granted his work permit a year ago after months of wrangling, while he says the decision to let Stevan Jovetic and Edin Dzeko leave without replacement was in part down to his faith in the youngster.

But it seems Iheanacho has only featured when there was little choice. Bony has struggled with injuries this season - in his defence, he has recovered from a bout of pre-season malaria - and Kelechi has taken his chances in the first team, notching nine goals and proving why there is so much buzz around this confident, skilful striker.

An FA Cup hat-trick against Aston Villa - as Bony was sidelined with a calf injury - was further proof of his prodigous talent, but you have to wonder now whether he would have got that chance had the Ivorian been fit.

Since returning from that calf injury in March, he has leapfrogged Iheanacho in the pecking order. Forty-five minutes at Anfield were followed by a starts against Villa and Norwich, in which he did little. As City chased the game against Manchester United it was Bony who was brought off the bench as Pellegrini's final substitute.

Iheanacho did come off the bench against Bournemouth last week but, when the chips were down in Paris in midweek, Bony was turned to again. In all these appearances he has done nothing to suggest he deserves to start.

City looked much livelier the second he was withdrawn against the Baggies. Kevin De Bruyne and Yaya Toure added energy and, within two minutes of Bony's departure, Nasri had swept home the winner at the far post. 

Nasri may yet have a role to play as City look to nail down a top-four finish, but Bony's race is surely run. It appears Pellegrini trusts the striker more than Iheanacho, and fortunately for the youngster that is a situation which will surely change this summer when Pep Guardiola takes the reins.