Pep Guardiola
Mateo Kovacic will be assessed after suffering an injury scare for Manchester City on Saturday. Kovacic was looking good in his second start of the season but took a kick to the back of his leg early in the second half and was forced off on 50 minutes vs Ipswich. He later limped down the tunnel, adding to City’s injury list which already contains Rodri. Earlier, Phil Foden had been ruled out with illness while Rodri was absent from the matchday squad having not trained fully since reporting back a few days before the start of the season. Oscar Bobb remains a long-term absentee after fracturing his leg on the eve of the season and he faces a four month lay-off.
Speaking after the comfortable win over Ipswich,
Pep Guardiola said: I didn’t speak with the doctors. I think it was a knock. Liam Delap, we know from here, is so aggressive with that. We have six, seven days until the next game and we will see if he can recover. ”
John Stones came on in Kovacic’s place while the returning Ilkay Gundogan played the final 20 minutes to add to the options Guardiola has in midfield. The manager had previously said on Rodri, who was not involved against Ipswich:
Pep Guardiola said “He’s ok, he had an injury with the national team and he still has some niggles, but I saw him yesterday [Thursday] quite highly I’d say. It’s just a question of whether he rejoins the group [on Friday] for the training sessions.”
City next play West Ham on Saturday, with a full week to prepare to give Kovacic and Foden plenty of time to recover.
