Bojinov out until next year

The Bulgarian striker fell awkwardly following an aerial challenge with Patrice Evra after just six minutes of his first start for the Blues.

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The club said they expect the 21-year-old, signed from Fiorentina for an undisclosed fee in early August, to be out until next year.

Meanwhile, City midfielder Michael Johnson is refusing to get carried away with the club's start to the Premier League season and insists finishing in the top 10 is still the aim.

City head into the brief international break at the top of the table after three wins, the last of which came against United on Sunday.

There was barely time to celebrate, according to Johnson, as players rushed off to represent their countries, and the 19-year-old put a sense of perspective on the first week of the campaign.

"It's three games, that's all," he said. "At the start of the season our aim was to be in the top 10 at the end of the season and that has not changed, we're still trying to do that."

After featuring against United, Johnson joined the England Under-21 squad in Bristol ahead of their Tuesday evening friendly against Romania, reuniting himself with former City boss Stuart Pearce.

Pearce has been credited with helping nurture talent such as Johnson at Eastlands, with Sven-Goran Eriksson arriving in the summer to supplement a talented young squad.

"You can see from nine points out of nine - we've done as well as we can and on Sunday we were playing against one of the best teams in the world which is hard," Johnson said.

"Before that there were already good players at the club. He's added good players to good players.

"To me it's no surprise because we brought in a lot of good players.

"The lads have all gelled really well. There are a lot of nationalities in the dressing room but it's not quiet. Everyone speaks to each other and gets along well."

While Eriksson has made shrewd investments to add to the City squad, the nucleus of the team is from Pearce's era.

"People are talking about Micah Richards, people are talking about Michael Johnson and people are talking about Kasper Schmeichel," said Pearce. "They've all come through the academy system but they've been supplemented by good signings. That's the key.

"I know the feeling of warmth every time you put an academy player on at Manchester City was immense."

Pearce was not given the financial backing Eriksson has had in the transfer market but he insists there is no resentment. "It's a great football club with fantastic people and the fans deserve any success that comes their way," he said.

"A lot of people might say 'you're just saying that' but it's not the case. The club were fantastic to me - I had six great years there but I'm really enjoying what I'm doing.

"You have to take adversity on the chin. You get on with that and can't afford to look back and be bitter and twisted. The club are too good and there are too many good people there for me to look back and be resentful.

"Hopefully people will look back and say 'that was tough times, the couple of years you had there'. The chairman knows that and the board of directors know that. They needed someone from the outside to invest in the club and reignite it again and that's happened."

He added: "The bonus for me is that I've brought in three City players to represent us and when they walked through the door yesterday they were on top of the world."

Defender Micah Richards took the plaudits against United after keeping Carlos Tevez quiet as City grabbed a 1-0 win.

"He's just gaining in experience and stature. Everything about him is looking like he's going to be a top-quality international player," said Pearce. "Added to that is the fact he has a mentality that he wants to get hit by the ball and stop it going in the net, like John Terry. "There are not too many defenders who can give (Carlos) Tevez three or four yards head start and still recover."