Kyle Walker was taken off at Aston Villa and Pep Guardiola confirmed that he was forced to bring his defender off
Kyle Walker was unable to play the full 90 minutes against Aston Villa due to injury, according to Pep Guardiola.
Nathan Ake came on for the final 10 minutes as Walker limped off at Villa Park in the 1-1 draw, his first appearance since suffering a groin injury against Newcastle. The right-back had a difficult afternoon after squandering a glorious early chance to put the Blues ahead, but the manager confirmed that his substitution was not tactical.
The city’s manager had not seen the medical team in order to make a diagnosis but was concerned enough to take Walker off the field. “He had some issues in the first half,” he admitted.
“He continued, but in the end, he could not continue. We will see, I didn’t speak with the doctors.”
Walker adds to City injury issues, with Aymeric Laporte a long-term concern at the back and Kalvin Phillips remains out with a shoulder injury sustained in the charity match with Barcelona. However, Ake returned at Villa and so too did Jack Grealish even if he did not come off the bench.
The city will also hope to use Manuel Akanji soon, their deadline day signing from Dortmund who was absent this weekend following the birth of his child. There will have to be fingers crossed that Walker’s injury is not severe though as the Blues embark on a relentless schedule before the World Cup with games every three days, they start their Champions League campaign in Seville on Tuesday.
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