KDB hands Blues injury boost
MIDFIELDER SAYS INJURY NOT SERIOUS AS LIVERPOOL DROP POINTS
KEVIN De Bruyne feels that the hamstring injury which forced him off at Bournemouth is not too serious.
The City midfield ace will be having further tests and scans today to determine the extent of the problem. But he joined the rest of the team in celebrating with the travelling fans at the Vitality Stadium, and afterwards played down fears that his injury jinx has struck again.
“It happens, you know. I don’t think it’s too bad this time,” he said.
“I felt a little bit tight at the end of the half. I did one action with the pass and I didn’t feel too comfortable so I just took myself out. It’s better not to take a risk.”
Asked if he could be out for a while, De Bruyne replied: “I hope not. I felt something but I don’t think it’s going to be too severe. “I felt it in my hammy.” And he said he was not going to miss the celebrations on the pitch, hamstring twinge or not: “I’m still part of the team and I felt we played brilliantly.
“Bournemouth were here just to keep the nil, and to attack the way we had to for 90 minutes was so tough. So I thought we did a really good job. Every game is like a cup final. But we played before them (Liverpool) so it’s very important not to drop points.
“I preferred last year because we knew last year that we were probably going to win it.”
City were handed a title boost last night as Liverpool were held to a goalless draw at Merseyside rivals Everton, leaving the Blues a point clear at the top.
PEP Guardiola described City’s trip to Bournemouth as a ‘cup final’ – and he celebrated it like he did the game at Wembley six days earlier.
That phrase has become a stock cliché for managers these days, every game becomes a cup final at this stage of every season.
But the importance of the win down on the south coast cannot be over-estimated. Three weeks ago we were all looking at the games against Arsenal and Chelsea, punctuated by a tricky trip to Goodison Park – all inside a week – as a huge period.
Guardiola’s team came through that one with nine points in the bag.
He refused to allow his players to feel tiredness, even though the journalists who follow his team home and away have been feeling the pace of trips to Newport, Gelsenkirchen and Wembley in a momentous week.
And when a tough, tight game at Wembley went to extra time, this week also took on another dimension.
A home game against West Ham and an away jaunt to Bournemouth does not look like the most daunting schedule, but in the context of what went before, and of chasing all four trophies, this week became immense.
No-one was smashed like Chelsea at the Etihad, or outthought like Everton and Arsenal, but psychologically the three wins and three clean sheets are crucial.
The players all get two days off now, a rare luxury in the hurly-burly of the season, and after Watford’s visit to the Etihad next week being followed by Schalke, Swansea in the FA Cup and an international break, it is almost a mid-season break in Premier League terms.
And while their bid to break their own English goalscoring record of 156 – set by Manuel Pellegrini’s team in 2013-14 – may have taken a setback, the title push remains strong.
One-nil used to be the preserve of ultra-defensive teams like George Graham’s Arsenal – they revelled in it. And even Roberto Mancini, for all his flamboyance as a player, used to regard that scoreline as a thing of beauty, an economy of both defence and attack coming together.
It was maybe the Italian in him overcoming his natural showmanship.
Twice in the space of three days City have eked out a single goal win, and three times in a week kept a clean sheet. The importance of such perfection cannot be underestimated as the number of games in the title run-in slips down into single figures.
Having the knowledge that they can defend a 1-0 lead, especially after making a habit of throwing them away earlier in the season, could prove to be golden in the next two months.
In the context of chasing all four trophies, this week became immense Stuart Brennan