Man City injury update: Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva and Josko Gvardiol latest news and return dates
Manchester City are suddenly dealing with a flurry of injury concerns ahead of Saturday’s Premier League clash with Chelsea.
With the likes of Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Manuel Akanji all back fit, Pep Guardiola has recently had the luxury of a full squad to choose from amid a run of 11 consecutive wins across all competitions that has seen last season’s Treble winners send an ominous warning to their trophy rivals on all fronts.
However, all that changed against FC Copenhagen on Tuesday night, with City left counting the cost of a relatively routine 3-1 Champions League last-16 first-leg victory in the Danish capital in which they suffered a number of injury scares.
Both Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva were forced off with injuries at Parken, while the likes of Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic and Sergio Gomez all missed the trip entirely.
Here is the latest Man City injury news and return dates....
Jack Grealish
The England playmaker made his first start against Copenhagen since the FA Cup demolition of Huddersfield on January 7, but lasted just 21 minutes before being forced off with a groin problem, replaced by Jeremy Doku.
"I didn't speak with the doctor but it looks muscular with Jack," Guardiola said after the game.
"The last few days his mood in training was much better.
"He felt it on the grass and started to complain. The players can feel it immediately if it's muscular. He wanted to continue but we didn't want to make the damage even worse. We'll take tests tomorrow.”
Potential return date: Unknown pending further assessment
Bernardo Silva
The Portuguese midfielder excelled against Copenhagen on Tuesday, giving City back the lead on the stroke of half-time with a brilliant flick after De Bruyne’s early opener had been cancelled out by Magnus Mattsson’s memorable effort.
However, he too went down in pain with less than 15 minutes to go in Denmark and was replaced by compatriot Matheus Nunes.
"Bernardo took a big knock on the ankle. Hopefully it is not a big issue, but we will see,” Guardiola said.
Potential return date: Unknown pending further assessment
Josko Gvardiol
The versatile Croatian defender did not even make the trip to Copenhagen, having also sat out Saturday’s late 2-0 victory over Everton in the Premier League.
Guardiola has since revealed that Gvardiol is suffering with an ankle ligament injury and as a result will be sidelined for around two to three weeks.
“Josko [will be] two weeks or three weeks,” Guardiola said. “He has [a problem with a ligament] in his ankle."
He will miss upcoming league games against Chelsea, Brentford and Bournemouth, as well as the FA Cup fifth-round trip to Luton.
It remains to be seen if Gvardiol will be fit for the Manchester derby against United at the Etihad Stadium on March 3, after which City face Copenhagen again before an important run of top-flight matches against Liverpool, Brighton, Arsenal and Aston Villa.
Potential return date: March 3, vs Manchester United
Mateo Kovacic
City were also without Gvardiol’s Croatia team-mate Kovacic against both Everton and Copenhagen due to an unspecified knock, though it seems that he could be fit to feature against former club Chelsea this weekend.
“Kova is in the process to come back,” Guardiola said. “Thursday or Friday he will train with us and we will see how he feels.
“Unfortunately, now with the schedule we have we need players fit and every game and training session we lose players and that is not good.”
Potential return date: February 17, vs Chelsea
