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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has confirmed a fresh injury blow before the much-anticipated Manchester derby, as English winger Jack Grealish is set for another spell on the sidelines. The 28-year-old had to come off in the first half in his side’s 6-2 drubbing of Luton town in the F.A cup.
“No, he will not be fit for this weekend, We don’t have an alternative, setbacks in life are always there, it’s how you overcome.” Guardiola lamented.
Grealish had only come back from a groin injury sustained in the Champions League against Copenhagen that kept him out for two weeks. It was his first start in six matches, struggling to battle a niggling groin issue. The winger looked absolutely devastated after coming off, even hiding his face in his coat for a while.
Although is numbers this season, 3 goals and 2 assists in 26 appearances, have been quite underwhelming, he is still very crucial to the Cityzens.
Grealish joins Croatian centre back Josko Gvardiol on the injured list. Man City are still in contention to win 3 competitions, and these injuries do them no good.
It is unclear when Grealish will return, although Guardiola stated that he does not expect him back before the international break at the end of March. This means that on top of missing the derby, he will also miss a key Premier League bout against Liverpool, an F.A cup meeting with Newcastle and the return leg of the last 16 Champions League match against Copenhagen.
Pep will now have to decide who to start on the left, with his options being Phil Foden and tricky Belgian winger, Jeremy Doku.
The Spanish tactician will however be delighted to have his star attacking duo of Kevin De Buyne and Erling Haaland back on firm. The dynamic duo is only recently back from long injury lay-offs and are now getting their rhythm back.
To my point, Haaland scored 5 goals with De Bruyne assisting 4 of those in City’s last match, an away F.A cup trip to Luton town.
The situation on the red side of the city is much more dire, with injuries plaguing United all season. The side has an upward of 8 injured first team players as in Premier injuries. Among these injuries is Rasmus Hojlund who has been on fire of late, scoring at will.
