Manchester City: Pep Guardiola defends Sergio Aguero after horror tackle on David Luiz

Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola has defended Sergio Aguero’s disciplinary record despite losing the forward to seven games through suspension before the season’s midway point.

Aguero, 28, will miss Saturday's Premier League trip to Leicester as he begins a four-match ban, imposed after he was sent off last Saturday for a dangerous knee-high challenge on Chelsea defender David Luiz.

That follows the three-game suspension handed to him retrospectively when television evidence showed he elbowed Winston Reid during a victory over West Ham in late August.

Aguero has endured a mixed season, despite being City’s leading scorer with 16 goals. For his club, he has missed a number of significant chances at key moments in games, most notably in home draws against Everton and Middlesbrough and the defeat by Chelsea last weekend.

At international level, he has lost his place in Argentina’s starting line-up as their World Cup qualification campaign has faltered. He has missed four of the eight penalties he has taken for club and country this season.

Guardiola has played down suggestions, however, that Aguero is losing his discipline because for frustration over his form, instead suggesting that referees are treating him harshly.

He said: “Sergio’s not an aggressive player. It’s two red cards, seven games, accept the punishment from the federation [Football Association].

“It’s not my job, it’s a job for the referees. I’m not comfortable talking about the referees. I’m not. We just have to accept it and try to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

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City have received a total of six red cards this season, with two of them going to midfielder Fernandinho.

The Brazil international, having missed Tuesday’s Champions League draw against Celtic as he served a one-game European ban, begins a three-match domestic suspension today for his sending off against Chelsea, having pushed Cesc Fabregas over an advertising hoarding in the melee that followed Aguero’s dismissal.

Guardiola is of the view that some of City’s red cards have been unjust. However, he added that his players must not use the loss of Aguero and Fernandinho as an excuse for poor form as they prepare to visit Leicester City, the Premier League champions, this evening.

“We have other players,” he said. “We are not going to complain and say we didn’t win because Sergio is not here, or because Fernandinho is not here.

“We have to find a solution, that’s why we are here – to use the players that we have to win the game. We accept that.

“I know what happened with Fernandinho because I saw the image of what happened with the other player, but we accept it. What happened with Nolito [sent off against Bournemouth in September for a headbutt], other players did the same action, but we had to accept it. We have to play without them.”

Aguero’s absence will increase the onus on Kelechi Iheanacho, who scored his fifth goal of the campaign against Celtic. Guardiola is confident that the 20-year-old Nigerian forward can take on that responsibility, but is prepared to consider other options too.

He said: “He’s our striker. The only one I have. He has a good sense of the goal, and of course we need that.

“We can play other players in that position, though. He’s a player who should play but we have other options in the way we can play.”