Hart: Kompany will get back to his best

The club captain was left out of the starting line-up to face Leicester City, but the goalkeeper is confident the Belgian will be back to his best

Joe Hart has backed Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany to rediscover his best form after being dropped by Manuel Pellegrini.

The Belgian watched from the bench as the Premier League champions made hard work of a 2-0 win over bottom-of-the-table Leicester City on Wednesday, with Martin Demichelis and Eliaquim Mangala starting.

Pellegrini brushed off the omission of Kompany after the game, insisting he was "refreshing" the squad and Hart, himself dropped for a period last season, accepts that rotation is part and parcel of football.

"Vinny appreciates, same as we all do, that sometimes the manager will change the squad," he told reporters. "There is no-one destined to play every single game – I have learned that lesson.

"Vinny's one of the best I have ever played with, and this was his night off. I'm sure he will be back in the team again with that captain's armband, being one of the best defenders in world football."

David Silva and James Milner settled the win on Wednesday as City recorded just their fourth win in their last 10 games, with Chelsea building up a five-point lead, with a game in hand, at the top of the table.

"It's not been good enough – we'd all accept that – myself included," he said. "As a team we have to accept that it's not just the back four and the goalkeeper when we defend – we defend as a team.

"I don't set out to be brutally honest but I'd struggle to say things any other way. I'd always protect my team but it's pretty hard to not tell the truth when millions of people have just watched what happened."