Just when Jack Grealish was starting to get his season (and Manchester City career) turned around, the injury bug bites again. Grealish, after getting a surprise starting assignment against Real Madrid, limped out of the loss to Los Blancos early with a lower leg injury.
According to a message posted on social media by Grealish, it doesn’t sound too bad, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Newcastle United at Manchester City FYIs
Kickoff: Sat. Feb. 15, 3pm, Etihad Stadium, Manchester, UK
Team News for Both Sides: go here
Starting XI Predictions: Man City Newcastle
PL Form, Standings: Man City 5th, 41 pts, WDWWL Newcastle 6th, 41 pts, WWLWL
Google Result Probability: Man City 51% Draw 23% Newcastle 26%
Team News for Both Sides
And then at halftime, Manuel Akanji had to be subbed out, with a knock of his own. Here is the only thing that manager Pep Guardiola has said about the muscular issues with Grealish and Akanji:
“I don’t know yet. But if they have gone out for muscular reasons, maybe they will not be there [for the next two games].”
There is really nothing else new to cover, regarding Man City, so let’s just shift gears to Newcastle now. Sven Botman has a fresh knee injury, but at least it’s not as serious as the last one. And it’s on the other knee too.
“I don’t think he’ll be available this weekend,” Newcastle manager Eddie Howe said.
“He’s taken a knock to the knee, the opposite one to the ACL. It isn’t a serious injury, but it’ll keep him out of Birmingham before we assess him next week.”
The other fresh injury update is also in the back, pertaining to Dan Burn. “We were forced to take Dan off,” Howe said after the last game.
“It was something with his groin. Fingers crossed, it’s not too bad.”
We’ll await a further update on Burn come Friday.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.