Pep Guardiola has revealed Kevin De Bruyne was replaced late on against Arsenal with a slight ‘niggle’.
The midfielder was outstanding on Wednesday and played a pivotal role in Manchester City’s 4-1 Premier League victory, one that leaves them in pole position to win the title.
De Bruyne linked excellently with Erling Haaland all night and regularly bypassed the Norwegian in the final third.
De Bruyne scored two goals after breaking beyond the Arsenal backline, while his cross was headed in by John Stones in the latter stages of the first half.
Speaking after the game, Guardiola described De Bruyne as ‘unstoppable’ but revealed he asked to come off in the latter stages of the game.
“Kevin told me he had some niggles in his legs and asked for the substitution,” revealed the City boss.
All eyes and ears will now be on Guardiola’s pre-match presser on Friday ahead of the trip to Fulham.
The news shared on Twitter gathered a number of replies from a wide range of Man City supporters.
@KevRole: “Oh no!”
@RepMCFC: “So the N word is back again.”
@ManCitty9320: “Not looking good, Fulham is a hard team to beat”
@Sundayokeme1: “Hope it’s not serious”
@mbaalthani8: “Can’t win against deep blocks without him..”
@MitPat_: “People need to calm down, it was an exhausting game. He’ll be good”
@amir7iqbal_amir: “Niggles usually heal straight away right”
Manchester City supporters are all hoping that Kevin De Bruyne’s ‘niggles’ are only a minor problem, with enormous fixtures coming thick and fast for the club in the coming weeks.
Following a trip to Craven Cottage this weekend, City embark on two consecutive home matches as they host West Ham in a midweek affair, as well as Leeds United the following weekend.
That triple header in the Premier League will mark the build-up to a Champions League semi-final first-leg, when Manchester City travel to the Spanish capital to take on Real Madrid at the same stage of the tournament as last season.
City also take on bitter rivals Manchester United at Wembley Stadium in the Emirates FA Cup final – a highly-anticipated contest that has been pencilled in for Saturday 3 June with kick-off at 3PM (BST).
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