Pep Guardiola issues injury update on ‘incredible’ Savinho after Manchester City win v Chelsea

Pep Guardiola issues injury update on ‘incredible’ Savinho after Manchester City win v Chelsea

The Manchester City winger was replaced at half-time against Chelsea.

Pep Guardiola revealed he replaced Savinho at half-time in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Chelsea due to a knock but said the knee problem is not serious.

The Brazilian, who joined the Premier League champions from Troyes this summer, started his first game in the top flight on Sunday, and enjoyed a positive first half at Stamford Bridge. Savinho set up Bernardo Silva for a shooting chance and linked well with team-mates during his 45-minute display.

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But he dropped to the ground in the latter stages of the first half and was seen shaking his head and banging his first on the turf. The winger was replaced by Phil Foden at the break and Guardiola said after the game that Savinho had suffered the recurrence of a previous issue.

“Some distributing in the knee. He said he knows perfectly why, had it in the past,” the City boss explained.

“He has to solve it and it’s a question of a lack of preparation, a lack of training sessions. Apparently it’s not a big, big problem. Will be ready for hopefully next Saturday.”

Savinho started on the left wing and switched to the right flank on Sunday, with the summer arrival operating on both sides during his time at Girona. He fared well against Marc Cucurella after his change and his maiden Premier League performance is particularly encouraging display given he did not feature in any of City’s pre-season games.

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Asked about Savinho’s impact against Chelsea, Guardiola said: “We expect always the best. Today, the first game is a coin toss. How is the team, how does he feel? I don’t know.

The first game… 80 percent of the games in pre-season was academy players. But the first impact has been really good. Cucurella could control the first actions to Jeremy [Doku] but with him, he did it.

“It means a lot, it’s not always about how you perform in the first game in England, at Stamford Bridge, performing that well, sends me a message that he is mature and has a good personality to become a top, top player. That is incredible news for us.”

Related topics:SavinhoPep GuardiolaPremier LeagueChelsea

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