Manchester City are the latest team to have their season battered by a string of injuries to important players. They had been making do without three of their first choice defenders and have now lost a key play maker following the League Cup semi-final against Everton FC.
The biggest news ahead of Manchester City’s visit to Villa Park on Saturday is the injury to Belgian play maker Kevin de Bruyne, who has been ruled out for 10 weeks after suffering knee and ankle injuries and being stretchered off the pitch during the match against Everton. De Bruyne joins the ranks of the walking wounded for the club, which includes key players like Vincent Kompany, Eliaquim Mangala and Aleksandar Kolarov.
The Citizen’s have enough squad depth in the attacking department to be able to still field a top side despite the injury problem, with Spaniard Jesus Navas taking the place of de Bruyne. However, the defence has been stretched thin and could be vulnerable under attack as Pablo Zabaleta and Gail Clichy complement the Argentine central pairing of Martin Demichelis and Nicolas Otamnedi.
Aston Villa will be missing Alan Hutton in defence and Carlos Sanchez in midfield, both suffering from hamstring injuries. 20-year-old former Barcelona winger Adam Traore will also miss out on the proceedings due to injury. Gabriel Agbonlahor could feature in the match after being out with injury for a significant period of time, but it all depends on manager Remi Garde, under whom he has played only one minute of professional football.
