Mateo Kovacic injury headache for Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola
Today at 08:18 AM
Mateo Kovacic is facing ‘a few weeks’ out of action due to an injury he picked up on international duty with Croatia.
The 30-year-old has moved into a key role for Pep Guardiola’s side this season after the serious knee injury suffered by Rodri.
The influential Spaniard is set to miss the season and Kovacic has filled the void left by the current Balon d’Or holder.
The former Chelsea man has made 11 Premier League appearances, 10 of which have been starts, but he is now set to miss a busy period due to an unspecified injury he suffered over the international break.
However, there was more positive news in defence as John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake are fit again, with just Ruben Dias remaining sidelined through injury.
‘Kovacic is injured. It will be a while, a few weeks or one month,’ Guardiola told a press conference on Friday.
‘John, Manu trained good yesterday. Nathan is coming back training. We had no central defenders, now we have three.
‘Just Ruben [Dias] is out but he is coming back soon. I don’t know if they're ready to play 90 minutes, but to see their faces in the training session is really good.’
‘Just Ruben (Dias) is out but hopefully he will be back soon. We didn’t have central defenders and know we have three.’
Manchester City return to Premier League action at home to Tottenham on Saturday evening looking for a much-needed upturn in results.
For the first time under Guardiola the Premier League champions have lost their last four games in all competitions, including to Saturday’s opposition in the Carabao Cup.
More concerningly than that defeat to Spurs, though, were Premier League losses against Bournemouth and Brighton which have left them five points off the pace at the top of the table.
‘You are able to lose four games in a row, but you are also able to win four Premier Leagues in a row,’ said Guardiola of the recent slump.
‘The difference is most teams are able to lose four games in different competitions but just one team has won four Premier Leagues in a row.’
The likes of Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Jack Grealish are all doubts for the weekend after missing the latest international break, but are all hoping to be involved.
