Man City get major double injury boost ahead of West Ham clash
Manchester City’s preparations for Saturday’s trip to West Ham have been given a double boost with the return of Rodri and Mateo Kovacic to training.
Rodri has missed the first three games of the season, only arriving back at City three days before the Community Shield after an extended holiday following his Euro 2024 heroics. The midfielder starred as Spain won the Euros, but was substituted at half-time of their final win over England with an apparent injury.
And the issues from that game appear to have lingered on his return to Manchester, with Pep Guardiola confirming the midfielder had not fully trained before the Community Shield win over Manchester United and the Premier League victories against Chelsea and Ipswich.
Guardiola has cautioned over Rodri’s condition and any return is likely to be staggered given his importance to the team and the player’s own warnings of playing too many games in recent years.
Before the Ipswich game, Guardiola said: “He’s okay, he had an injury with the national team and he still has some niggles, but I saw him yesterday [last Thursday] quite highly I’d say. It’s just a question of today [last Friday], whether he rejoins the group for the training sessions.”
City have also been boosted by Kovacic’s presence in training, with the Croat impressing in pre-season and in the three games Rodri has missed. Kovacic was forced off early in the second half against Ipswich after a physical challenge to the back of his knee, and was limping as he went down the tunnel.
Guardiola had expressed doubt at the time over whether Kovacic would be fit for the West Ham game, saying: “I think it was a knock. Liam Delap, we know from here, is so aggressive with that. We have six, seven days until the next game and we will see if he can recover.”
But Kovacic was seen smiling in a ‘winning team’ photograph from training on Wednesday, after Guardiola appeared to have given the squad two days off at the start of the week. Oscar Bobb is now City’s only long-term absentee.
