Cherki facing injury lay-off says Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says that new signing Rayan Cherki could be out for up to two months after picking up an injury.

The France international missed the trip to Brighton on Sunday as City were beaten 2-1 after Erling Haaland had fired us ahead.

Cherki, who joined us from Lyon in the summer, is now set for a lay-off, with Guardiola stating: “He's out for two months. Seven or eight weeks.”

January signing Abdukodir Khusanov made his first start of the season and the boss was pleased with the Uzbek’s performance.

But the defender was forced off with a knock shortly before the Seagulls snatched all three points.

And Guardiola felt fatigue contributed to Brighton’s late winner with Brajan Gruda securing all three points in the 89th minute.

“It’s tiredness,” he said. “We attacked in the moment and pressed really well, the clearance was short and we didn’t close the gap on the side and they had fast players.

“Khusa can handle it because he is so fast but unfortunately he had a knock and that’s why he could not continue.

“In general, we have been really good at our high pressing and how we recover quick. This was an action in the last minutes when they were tired and have to come back. I think Khusa is fine.”

There was some good news as Rodri made his first Premier League start since the knee injury he suffered against Arsenal in September 2024.

The Spain midfielder said there was a lot of improvements to make and Guardiola agreed the Blues need to cut out mistakes.

“We start the season right now,” he said. “Against Wolves we didn’t make mistakes, we have made mistakes in the beginning. We will see what happened.

“I feel we are more active in good moments compared to last season but last season we lost against Spurs and Brighton and this season happened the same.”