Savinho goes off in tears as City face injury crisis
Credit to Author: ESPN News Services| Date: Fri, 1 Nov 2024 06:24:06 EST
Pep Guardiola admitted his side is “in trouble” with injuries after two more players picked up knocks in Wednesday’s 2-1 EFL Cup defeat at Tottenham. (0:35)
Manchester City winger Savinho was carried off on a stretcher during the 2-1 loss at Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday, adding to the injury crisis enveloping the Premier League champions.
“Tomorrow we have two ‘keepers and Erling Haaland for a training session, the rest we don’t have,” City manager Pep Guardiola said.
Savinho was in tears and consoled by teammates as he was being carried off the field in the 63rd minute after hurting his right ankle following a driving run into the penalty area.
Guardiola said the Brazil winger will find out on Thursday the extent of the injury. City also lost Manuel Akanji in the warmup, with the centre-back having been a doubt coming into the game because of a knee issue.
Rodri, Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, Jérémy Doku and Oscar Bobb were already on the injury list, while Guardiola said Rúben Dias has been playing through a problem.
Rodri, who won the Ballon d’Or award Monday, has been ruled out for the season with an ACL injury, while Guardiola said De Bruyne, Grealish and Walker wouldn’t be back until after the next international break.
Guardiola said the injury situation was the worst he has experienced in his time at the club since arriving in 2016.
“We are 13 players,” he said. “We are in real difficulty but we have to make the effort. The guys who played, most finished with problems and we will see how they recover.
“I think when we are in trouble like we are — because in nine years, I’ve never in this situation had this many injuries for this many reasons — in these situations, the players make a step forward. They are more together than ever.”
City lead the Premier League by a point from Liverpool after nine games.
Tottenham also picked up two injuries — to Micky van de Ven and Timo Werner. Van de Ven was a hamstring issue, coach Ange Postecoglou said, while Werner’s might just have been fatigue.
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.