Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola confirmed that Sergio Aguero has suffered an injury after their disappointing draw against West Ham United on Saturday.
City went a goal down on a bicycle kick from Michail Antonio, but rallied thanks to Phil Foden stepping up. The draw now leaves the Manchester club in 12th place and they are five points off the top.
Things did not go to plan for the Citizens who also lost one of their most important players in Aguero, the club’s all-time leading scorer. The Argentine forward who was among the scorers in the midweek had to be taken off after playing for 45 minutes and was replaced by Foden.
When the manager was asked about his substitution, he revealed that it was a hamstring issue. Speaking about the decision to take off the striker, Guardiola told the official website:
“It’s a muscular (injury). Hamstring, I think. Tomorrow we will know,”
This is a big blow to a team that is already missing players in the final third such as Gabriel Jesus. The lack of a recognised centre forward might mean that City will have to come up with a creative solution to tackle this problem.
This could be using Raheem Sterling as a false nine or even recalling talented youngster Liam Delap.
Whatever the solution may be, it will have to be found fast as there are some big games coming up.
Due to this injury, Aguero is expected to miss out on matches against Marseille, Olympiakos, Sheffield United and most importantly, Liverpool. That is a tough run of fixtures and one where City would have benefitted from having such an elite striker.
Their focus will now be shifting to Tuesday’s Champions League game at Marseille. They won their first match in the competition and will want to continue the positive run of form. Manchester City will miss the presence of the Argentine forward, but they definitely have enough quality in their team to make up for it.
City need to put the disappointment of the weekend behind them and think about getting the three points in France. It will be a tough game but players such as Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez will be expected to step up.