Manchester City superstar injured ahead of tough run of fixtures
According to a report from The Daily Mail, Manchester City have suffered a fresh injury blow with midfielder Ilkay Gundogan the latest player to enter the treatment room.
After the 0-0 stalemate with Southampton at the Etihad Stadium over the weekend, City boss Pep Guardiola indicated that the German was nursing a problem. Ilkay Gundogan, 30, has now joined the likes of Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Rodri on the sidelines.
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Oleksandr Zinchenko played the full 90 minutes for Manchester City against RB Leipzig in the Champions League but was missing against the Saints. This saw Joao Cancelo start at left-back against Southampton, with Guardiola naming academy products such as Luke Mbete-Tatu, Cole Palmer, Romeo Lavia and Josh Wilson-Esbrand on the bench.
And the Spanish tactician has already stated that he’ll play a few youngsters in City’s Carabao Cup clash with Wycombe Wanderers on Tuesday night.
"“We will see because we don’t have four or five days to prepare and to make a good selection but it is an opportunity for the academy – that’s why they are there,” Guardiola claimed.“Now we are going to play the Carabao Cup. We are going to see how many people recover for the next days because we are in difficult conditions right now but we will go there and to London and Paris and Liverpool to do good games.”"
Source: The Daily Mail
Ilkay Gundogan’s injury comes as a big blow ahead of the Cityzens’ tough run of fixtures starting with joint league leaders Chelsea on September 25. Three days later, Manchester City travel to France to play Paris Saint-Germain in their second group-stage game before paying a visit to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on October 3.
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It is a really difficult period for Guardiola and his coaching staff but they’ll have to negotiate the hectic schedule with the resources available at their disposal. This is when a team’s squad depth is tested and City do have that, with some academy kids chomping at the bit to play against Wycombe and impress the manager on Tuesday.