CITY’S BOOST AS GREALISH COMES ROUND

JACK GREALISH will make a shock return to the Manchester City squad for tonight’s FA Cup quarter-final clash with Newcastle United.

The England star was left out of Gareth Southgate’s squad for upcoming friendly games against Brazil and Belgium after the initial diagnosis suggested he had a groin problem that would keep him out of action until after the international break.

But Guardiola announced yesterday that Grealish has trained well for the last couple of days and will be in his matchday squad. He is not expected to start.

Grealish suffered what was thought to be a groin injury against Copenhagen a month ago and limped off again in his comeback game, the 6-2 win at Luton in the fifth-round of the cup on February 27. City agreed with Southgate that the player would not be named in the England squad but Guardiola said that the gradual return will benefit the player.

“The doctor said (the injury is) not a big influence, that’s why the recovery is quicker – it’s why he came back for Luton quicker, but he trained really well for the last two or three days,” said the City manager.

“Maybe we’ll need him (against Newcastle) and then especially these two weeks to work well and come back.

“Then we can have the Jack that unfortunately this season we had few, few times. And he can help us.

“You have to have consistency in the training, consistency in the game time, no injuries, then after, you get the best.

“When you have one, two, three weeks injured you don’t train the best in some moments and when that happens it’s more difficult.”

Grealish has only made seven Premier League starts in an injury-hit season, and both City and England are keen to get him fit for the run-in to the end of the season and the European Championships in the summer.

The £100million man was a key player for the Blues as they won the Treble last season and Guardiola feels he could be important again.

“He’s an exceptional player for many, many things,” said the Spaniard.

“He has the ability to make a lot of extra passes, but it’s not just extra passes – dribbles, assists and sometimes goals.

“He has to be fit and ready because the quality to keep the ball, extra passes, make the team tighter and closer between each other, defensively and offensively, is really, really, really good.”

City will be without goalkeeper Ederson, who damaged a thigh in last week’s draw against Liverpool, and Kevin De Bruyne is also ruled out with a groin injury.

Both City and England are keen to get him fit for the run-in