Manchester City injury news amid Nico Gonzalez wait after Villarreal victory
Nico Gonzalez was forced off injured in Manchester City’s win over Villarreal
Manchester City continued their fine form with a 2-0 victory at Villarreal in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
The result extended the Blues unbeaten run to nine games in all competitions and moved them to seven points from nine in the League Phase.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring early on and Bernardo Silva made it 2-0 before the break. The only negative from a comfortable night in Spain was an injury to Nico Gonzalez in the second half. Here’s the latest injury news from the Etihad.
Nico Gonzalez
Injury: Unknown
Pep Guardiola said that Gonzalez had a ‘knock to the feet’ as Manchester City hope he will be fit to take on Aston Villa at the weekend.
Gonzalez started in Villarreal but had to come off in the second half after a rough challenge from Thomas Partey. City’s midfielder immediately asked to come off and was replaced by Mateo Kovacic. The Blues are hopeful that the injury is nothing serious, but will have to wait to see how Gonzalez settles.
“Nico had a knock on his feet, we will see,” said Guardiola.
Potential return date: Aston Villa (A) October 26
Rodri
Injury: Hamstring
Rodri had hoped to be fit for the Premier League game with Everton on Saturday, having sat out international duty to try and recover from the hamstring injury that he felt in the opening minutes against Brentford earlier this month. The Spaniard did not think the issue was big at the time, but the Blues are having to be cautious with his return.
Guardiola confirmed after the match with Everton that he will not be risked for upcoming games with Villarreal and Aston Villa, either.
“It’s not long, but it’s muscular and you have to be careful,” the City boss said. “We’ve tried so many times, we’ve tried to not take a risk, but we have not been able to do that. So we will see.”
Potential return date: Swansea (A) October 29
Abdukodir Khusanov
Injury: Unknown
The Uzbekistan international had made the right back spot his own but he was forced off injured at half time in the draw with Arsenal and has yet to return to training.
Potential return date: Aston Villa (A) October 26
Rayan Ait-Nouri
Injury: Ankle
Ait-Nouri suffered an ankle injury in the early stages of his home debut against Tottenham and while he then featured subsequently against Brighton, he has not played for City since.
The Algerian has returned to training and Guardiola said the full back was feeling much better but he was not in the squad against Everton and didn’t get off the bench against Villarreal.
Potential return date: Aston Villa (A) October 26