Injuries hit Manchester City squad ahead of this weekend’s clash with Chelsea | OneFootball

Manchester City eased their way to a 3-1 win over FC Copenhagen at the Parken Stadium overnight. The win gave Pep Guardiola’s side control of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie when the two teams face off at the Etihad Stadium in a few week’s time. But the win came at a cost to the European champions with several players under injury clouds ahead of this weekend’s clash with Chelsea.

Jack Grealish had to be substituted early in the first half with what appeared to be a groin injury. Grealish has begun the game well before going down with the injury. Pep Guardiola was hopeful the injury wasn’t too serious. Speaking post game the City manager wasn’t sure about the severity of the injury suffered by Grealish: “I didn’t speak to the doctor but it looks like muscular for Jack.”

Bernardo Silva was also taken off after being on the receiving end of a strong challenge late in the second half. Guardiola told the media: “Bernardo has a big knock in his ankle.”

The Manchester City manager added that he was hopeful that Bernardo could feature against Chelsea adding: “Hopefully Bernardo is not a big issue. In a few days, we have Chelsea at home and we have to recover as quickly as possible.”

Guardiola also provided an update on Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic. The pair didn’t travel to Denmark. Guardiola said: “Josko (will be) two weeks or three weeks,” he said. “He has (a problem with a ligament) in his ankle. Kova is in the process to come back. 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.”

Pep Guardiola’s squad will now begin their recovery from the FC Copenhagen clash and hope for positive news on the injury front before they take on Chelsea in Premier League action at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.