Carrick has had achilles tendon surgery so - unless he has Lazarus-esque recovery powers - he'll certainly be out until Christmas. Huge loss; I'd say losing Carrick is like City losing Kompany... we're simply a far more solid unit when Carrick plays.
As for the other two pull-outs... well RVP has missed a number of games in the last six weeks, including the derby, due to niggling groin and toe injuries so this is hardly unexpected. And Welbeck hasn't started a game for us since October 2nd due to knee problems.
With some of the reactions on here, you'd have thought we'd have dragged them from their respective international bases kicking and screaming ;)