Manchester City suffer injury blow ahead of Premier League opener against Chelsea

Pep Guardiola has revealed that Jack Grealish is an injury doubt for Manchester City’s opening Premier League game against Chelsea.

Grealish suffered a knock in training ahead of Saturday’s Community Shield clash with Manchester United and was ruled out as a precaution.

But that could spill over into Sunday when City head to Stamford Bridge to face Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea for fear of exacerbating a minor problem.

“He’s had some discomfort for two days, but especially on Friday, he hasn’t felt well,” Guardiola said (via the Daily Mail). “I don’t think it’s a big problem, but we didn’t want to take any risks. It’s a knock, he had pace and he was aggressive.”

“He might be ready against Chelsea, or I’m pretty sure against Ipswich Town. If he had gotten injured now, he could be out for three weeks or a month.”

Belgian star Jeremy Doku and new £33m signing Savinho will compete for the left-wing spot in Grealish’s place. Savinho impressed off the bench at Wembley on his debut.

Guardiola added: “Savinho will understand us perfectly. I know many, many of Girona’s actions last season, going to the byline, crossing to the near post or the far post, and the forwards scored many goals. He is very quick in transitions.”

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