Mendy’s absence big blow for City
PEP’S MEN WILL NEED ALL THEIR RESILIENCE Chelsea manager unhappy with side’s short turnaround.
Manchester City’s defensive resilience in the absence of the injured Benjamin Mendy faces its first and arguably toughest test when the Premier League leaders travel to champions Chelsea today.
The 23-year-old fullback has been in fine form since his £50 million move from Monaco.
Mendy underwent surgery in Barcelona yesterday after he ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during last weekend’s victory over Crystal Palace.
“Bad news guys – I’ll be joining Injury FC on loan for a couple months with ruptured ACL ... but will be back soon & stronger hopefully,” tweeted Mendy.
City boss Pep Guardiola is under pressure to make good on their huge pre-season spending that saw him splash out more than £130 million on three fullbacks alone by bringing major silverware back to the Etihad Stadium.
The Spanish manager, speaking before the full extent of Mendy’s injury was confirmed, said: “We have Danilo, (Fabian) Delph and (Oleks) Zinchenko who can play there so we will see.”
Both City and Chelsea, three points behind both Guardiola’s men and second-placed Manchester United, go into the game on the back of midweek Champions League victories over Shakhtar Donetsk and Atletico Madrid.
But Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is unhappy that, while City played at home on Tuesday, his side have a short turnaround after arriving back in London in the early hours of Thursday morning from the Spanish capital.
“I think we are a bit penalised,” said Conte. “Man City is a really strong team. They are scoring a lot of goals (21 in six Premier League games alone), they are in a good moment of form and we have to prepare well for this game.”
United will be huge favourites to beat basement club Crystal Palace at Old Trafford today.
The Eagles have lost all six of their league matches so far this season and have still to score their first top-flight goal of a campaign where they have already sacked Frank de Boer and brought in former England boss Roy Hodgson – a boyhood Palace fan – in a bid to arrest their slump.
Tottenham Hotspur, fresh from seeing England striker Harry Kane score a hat-trick in a 3-0 Champions League win away to APOEL Nicosia, are at surprise high-flyers Huddersfield while Watford will look to consolidate their position in the top half at West Bromwich Albion.
Elsewhere West Ham, with just Bournemouth and Palace below them in the table, will hope to ease the pressure on manager Slaven Bilic when they welcome Swansea to the London Stadium, while Southampton are away to Stoke.
The pick of tomorrow’s three Premier League matches sees Newcastle manager Rafael Benitez up against former club Liverpool, who this week drew 1-1 away to Spartak Moscow in the Champions League, at St James’ Park in a fixture long known for producing high-scoring encounters.
Arsenal and Everton, fresh from Europa League duty, are at home to Brighton and Burnley respectively. – AFP
Today:
Bournemouth v Leicester, Chelsea v Manchester City, Huddersfield v Tottenham, Manchester United v Crystal Palace, Stoke v Southampton, West Brom v Watford, West Ham v Swansea.
Arsenal v Brighton, Everton v Burnley, Newcastle v Liverpool.
Tomorrow: