Ederson injury update as Pep Guardiola discusses ‘nightmare season’ for Manchester City | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has openly discussed a ‘nightmare season’ for his side as they succumbed to yet another injury problem over the weekend.

The reigning Premier League champions have largely credited their substantial drop-off in performance standards to a torrid time on the injury and fitness front this campaign, at a time when fixture demands on players are at their highest.

Nevertheless, after a hugely poor run of results in November and December, there has been some form of recovery from Manchester City in the Premier League and FA Cup after the turn of the year.

The latest positive result saw the side break into the Premier League’s top-four, albeit potentially temporarily as they await other results, with a 5-2 comeback win over Crystal Palace. But despite the win, the negatives on an injury front continued.

Having provided a decisive assist in the second-half of the game for James McAtee to increase City’s lead by two, Ederson was forced off the field with what appeared upon first viewing to be some form of groin problem.

Speaking to television broadcasters after the weekend’s victory over Crystal Palace, Pep Guardiola spoke of a ‘nightmare season’ for his City side, with Ederson the latest to succumb to a reoccurrence of his injury problems throughout the campaign.

“He’s had some disturbances in the past one month, two months ago, and they appeared again today,” Guardiola revealed after a contest that saw Ederson shine in the goal contribution department in particular.

The Manchester City manager continued, “Listen, the season has been a nightmare in these terms.”

For now it remains to be seen just how severe Ederson’s injury is and how long he could be on the sidelines for, with Stefan Ortega Moreno called into action on numerous occasions this season and maintaining goalkeeping performances to a high standard.

Both shot-stoppers have been linked with respective moves away from the Etihad Stadium as part of a rebuild of the Manchester City squad in the summer, and Bayer Leverkusen have been the latest club to be linked with a move for Ortega.

As for his Brazilian teammate, Ederson continues to be a name spoken about in Saudi Arabia, while there have also been tenuous links regarding a move back to his former club over in Portugal – Benfica.