'Doesn't look good' - Man City hit by double injury blow as Arsenal & Chelsea win while Liverpool draw
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Manchester City ended their run of seven games without a win as they beat Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Wednesday night. However, the reigning champions have suffered two further injury blows in a potential boost to title rivals Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool.
It was a night that saw the Premier League title race take another twist with Arsenal beating Manchester United 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium and Chelsea winning 5-1 against Southampton at St Marys’ Stadium. Those wins saw the two London clubs gain points on Liverpool, who drew 3-3 at Newcastle United after conceding a 90th minute equaliser.
Advertisement
Hide AdAdvertisement
Hide AdMan City also gained two points on the league leaders as they defeated Nottingham Forest 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium. It was their first win since beating Southampton 1-0 back on October 26. Bernardo Silva opened the scoring after eight minutes before Kevin De Bruyne doubled the lead before half time. Jeremy Doku made the game safe with a third goal just before the hour.
However, the victory has come at a cost after Manuel Akanji was replaced at half-time due to injury, which the nature of the problem yet to be specified, while Nathan Ake was withdrawn late in the game with a hamstring issue - having only recently returned from the same injury. Phil Foden missed the game due to bronchitis but is not expected to be out long term.
"We needed it," said Guardiola of City’s win. "The club and the players, everyone needed to win. But it is just one game and in three days we are at Selhurst Park, where it has always been difficult. We played good. We still conceded some transitions and missed some easy things and lost some passes that you have to avoid, but in general, the most important thing was to break this routine of not winning games and we won it.
“The problems continued with Manuel and Nathan. Nathan doesn’t look good. We will see tomorrow. He could not continue and we will see in three days what will happen. Manu has struggled in the last two months. I can just thank them for their effort playing in positions that are unnatural. We will see in three days what happens.”
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.