Man City suffer huge £220m injury blow ahead of Chelsea and Brentford crunch clashes

Manchester City have been hit with a trio of injury blows ahead of crunch matches against Chelsea and Brentford as the Premier League title race hots up. The Champions picked up the fitness concerns in midweek Champions League action.

The Cityzens had been one of the Premier League clubs with the fewest injury concerns in recent weeks as Pep Guardiola's men put together a rampant run of form to pile pressure on Liverpool and Arsenal. The treble winners dazzled again on Tuesday night, beating FC Copenhagen 3-1 in the Champions League.

However, the latest win came with a blow as a distraught Jack Grealish looked close to tears as he was substituted with a groin problem, as per LiverpoolWorld. The playmaker, who was signed for £100 million from Aston Villa in August 2021, lasted just 21 minutes and was not the only star who appeared to pick up a problem.

Midfield star and £43.5 million signing Bernardo Silva also hobbled off with 12 minutes remaining after a knock to the ankle. Manchester City were already without Josko Gvardiol, a £77 million acquisition from RB Leipzig last summer, who could miss three weeks with ankle ligament damage.

Guardiola said: “Jack felt his groin. I didn’t speak to the doctor, but it looks muscular. He wanted to continue but we can’t take any chances - and injuries like that usually take a few weeks.

“Bernardo took a big knock on the ankle. Hopefully, it is not a big issue, but we will see. Josko is out for two or three weeks after damaging the ligament in his ankle, but we hope Kovacic could come back to training on Thursday or Friday. Unfortunately, now with the schedule we have we need players fit and every game and training session we lose players and that is not good.”

Manchester City face a resurgent Chelsea side in Premier League action on Saturday at the Etihad Stadium before welcoming Brentford to Manchester on Tuesday. The Champions currently sit second in the top flight, two points off leaders Liverpool, with a game in hand.