PREMIER LEAGUE
Phil Foden injury news: Will he play this weekend against Luton?
The Manchester City man was substituted late on in the midweek draw against Real Madrid, sparking concern about his fitness.
Phil Foden is enjoying a career-best season with Manchester City, firmly establishing himself as a first-choice starter for Pep Guardiola’s treble-winners. The 23-year-old has been tipped for greatness since emerging from the club’s academy system and now looks set to become a global superstar.
He scored his 22nd goal of the season on Tuesday, a long-range rocket against Real Madrid in the Champions League. That goal further emphasised Foden’s value to this City team but supporters will have been left worrying about his fitness after he hobbled from the field late on.
However, after the game Foden told reporters that he had sustained a “bad dead leg” rather than anything too serious. Guardiola, too, downplayed the “knock”, saying: “He was grumpy with me because I made the substitution.”
Will Phil Foden play against Luton Town?
The Englishman is expected to make a swift recovery from the injury picked up at the Santiago Bernabéu and, in theory, should be available for the visit of Luton Town on Saturday. However it remains to be seen if Guardiola will want to play Foden from the start, considering that City have a crucial second leg against Real Madrid coming up next week.
Guardiola is no stranger to squad rotation and rested Foden for last weekend’s trip to Crystal Palace. With the Madrid decider coming up we could see a much-changed starting XI on Saturday. The likes of Jeremy Doku, Mattheus Nunes and Kevin de Bruyne did not feature against Madrid and could well get game time against Luton.
De Bruyne was absent from the starting XI against Real Madrid after suffering a bout of illness shortly before kick-off at the Bernabéu. The Belgian has returned to his incredible, inimitable performance level since making his comeback from injury and could be in line for a start against Luton.
Predicted Manchester City team to face Luton Town: Ederson Morales - Josko Gvardiola, Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji, Rico Lewis - Mateo Kovacic, Mattheus Nunes - Jeremy Doku, Kevin de Bruyne, Oscar Bobb - Julián Álvarez