The experienced Serbian midfielder, having been excellent in last weekend's 2-1 home win against Fulham, dropped out of the squad completely at the Etihad.

"It's a slight groin (injury)," said O'Neil. "He'll be fine for next week, but it was important today that we didn't take any unnecessary risks with him.

"I'm sure he would have loved to have been out there with us, but he's feeling his groin a little bit.

"He's expected back on the grass in the early part of this week, probably Monday, and we expect to see him with us on Friday against Nottingham Forest (at Portman Road)."

In the absence of Lukic, Town started with a midfield duo of Florentino Luis and Exequiel Palacios at the Etihad, with Azor Matusiwa introduced off the bench for his Premier League debut.