Jack Grealish and Nico Gonzalez injury and fitness updates provided by Pep Guardiola ahead of Newcastle | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has issued fitness and injury updates on both Jack Grealish and Nico Gonzalez following their recent setbacks.

The former was replaced during the opening exchanges of Tuesday night’s dramatic UEFA Champions League defeat to Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, after a promising start for the winger in attack against the Spanish giants.

Playing an integral role in City’s opening goal against the Los Blancos club, Grealish appeared to clutch his groin region before heading straight down the tunnel with Phil Foden coming on in his place for the remainder of the contest.

As for Nico Gonzalez, Manchester City’s big-money deadline day signing from FC Porto has played less than 25 minutes for the club after he sustained an injury concern on his debut in the FA Cup fourth round win over Leyton Orient.

Thankfully City have welcomed Gonzalez back into their training ground activities since then and the Spaniard has worked alongside his teammates throughout the week, albeit missing the meeting with Real Madrid on Tuesday.

Speaking during his pre-match press conference ahead of City’s meeting with Newcastle United on Saturday afternoon, and in light of a difficult evening against Real Madrid, Pep Guardiola was asked for updates on both Jack Grealish and Nico Gonzalez.

“Apparently right now it’s not as tough as what Manu (Akanji) has done but I don’t know if tomorrow he will be ready,” Guardiola said of his wide-forward in Jack Grealish after his substitution during the opening exchanges against Real Madrid.

“I don’t think so, but we will see, we will assess in the next hours,” he continued on the subject of the clash with Newcastle.

Nico Gonzalez has also not featured since his substitution against Leyton Orient on his Manchester City debut, and having not featured against Real Madrid, he has continued to train alongside his teammates in the meantime.

“Well, it wasn’t a difficult start, he was just injured. A difficult start is when you play bad, and that was not the case for the 20 minutes he played,” Guardiola opened in direct response to the phrasing used by one journalist during Friday afternoon’s press conference.

He continued, “But of course it was a setback; he had a little pain and especially for (Real) Madrid still he was not fully, fully-fit. Day by day he’s getting better and, like I said before with Jack, we will assess in a few hours.”

Manchester City find themselves in a similarly precarious position in domestic league action this season too, sitting outside of the top-four positions and knowing that a victory against Newcastle is essential to strengthen their case for Champions League qualification.

Pep Guardiola is unlikely to take into consideration the meeting with Real Madrid next week when he selects his line-up for Newcastle this weekend, realising the necessity of victory against Eddie Howe’s side for their season.