MANCHESTER -- Yaya Toure, James Milner and Aleksandar Kolarov will miss Manchester City's clash with West Bromwich Albion on Saturday,
Vice-captain Toure, who has been criticised for his recent form and was substituted in the defeats to Burnley and Barcelona, has an Achilles injury.
And Pellegrini will have to make at least two changes in midfield with Milner's knee problem meaning he takes a break before linking up with England.
Left-back Kolarov is also out, opening the way for Gael Clichy to return at left-back after he was suspended for the Barcelona game.
"We have three small problems," Pellegrini said in a news conference. "Yaya has a problem in his Achilles tendon so he will not play.
"Kolarov and Milner: it is not good for both of them, Aleks with a muscle problem and Milner is playing the last month with an important kick in his knee so he will not be involved."
Defenders Eliaqium Mangala and Pablo Zabaleta are fit to feature after the Frenchman was unable to be involved against Barcelona and the Argentine, who had a hamstring problem, was only deemed able to be a replacement. "Both of them are fit," he added.
Goalkeeper Joe Hart produced an outstanding display against Barcelona on Wednesday and Pellegrini, who had dropped the Englishman, feels his improvement is partly because he is better on the ball.
"I think Joe has improved a lot from last year to this year," the manager said. "Maybe working with [goalkeeping coach] Xabier Mancisidor, he learns a lot of things. He was a good goalkeeper. Today I think he is a footballer player that plays as a goalkeeper and that is a very important difference."
Pellegrini is anticipating a tough task against in-form West Brom at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
He added: "All the Premier League [matches] are very difficult games, for different reasons. You have five or six very strong teams. Other teams are not at that level but when you play against them, they have good players and strong players. That is the case with West Bromwich."