Pep Guardiola could be facing a mini-injury crisis in attack at Manchester City with Jack Grealish now a doubt for the weekend clash against Crystal Palace. The England international was one of few to keep their place from last Sunday’s win against Luton Town for the Champions League clash against Crvena Zvezda in Serbia.
Despite having a plethora of options in attack, the front three for the trip to Kenilworth Road was virtually already known with Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku out injured. In place of the duo, Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez formed a trio with Grealish and it was the latter duo who combined to score the winner after Bernardo Silva cancelled out Elijah Adebayo’s opener.
Guardiola’s initial update on Haaland appeared to be concerning, but his comments ahead of the Champions League match given some hope of a return over the weekend. “He’ll return on Thursday, the day after tomorrow, and we’ll see how he feels.” I couldn’t answer [about whether he can play on Saturday] because I don’t know right now. “I can be more specific about his condition at the next press conference,” Man City manager Pep Guardiola said.
With Doku and Haaland still unavailable, and Man City already qualified for the Champions League knockout stages, Oscar Bobb and Micah Hamilton were given starts.
Despite the adjustments, Man City maintained their unblemished European record with goals from Bobb and Hamilton in a 3-2 victory. While it would have thrilled Guardiola, Grealish’s possible early exit due to injury would have been far from it.
The 28-year-old was attended to by medical personnel in the first half after pulling up holding his side, before being needlessly fouled by a defender shortly before the break. When the halftime whistle blew, cameras saw Grealish whining to the referee while still holding the side of his body that had been ailing him earlier in the game.
For the second half, to potentially avoid any further damage, Phil Foden was brought on as his replacement with John Stones managing 86 minutes as he continues to build up his game time after enduring an injury-ravaged campaign thus far. Matheus Nunes also looked to suffer an issue after an acrobatic attempt ended with him landing awkwardly on his shoulder, however he was able to continue.
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