Garcia to sit out Burnley after Ed K.O.
KEVIN De Bruyne must be feeling a sense of deja vu as he was denied an assist for the second time this season in a 3-0 victory over Arsenal.
The City playmaker is closing in on Thierry Henry’s Premier League record of 20 assists in a season, officially standing on 16 assists before Wednesday’s win over Arsenal.
However, De Bruyne has gone on record to express his feeling that he should have been awarded the assist for Raheem Sterling’s goal in the win at the Emirates in December.
His cross was deemed to have taken a deflection before Sterling converted, but De Bruyne spoke in April about his belief that he should have been awarded the assist and therefore stand on 17 for the season.
“To be honest, I feel like I’m on 17 – I know they took one away from me at Arsenal,” he said on The Athletic’s Ornstein & Chapman podcast.
“I don’t know why they did it, I still don’t understand it.”
So De Bruyne will have been equally as confused when the Premier League took his ‘assist’ in this week’s home game against Arsenal away from him. The Belgian’s forward
ERIC Garcia has returned to City’s training ground after his start against Arsenal ended in a hospital visit.
But the 19-year-old Spanish defender is likely to be ruled out of next Monday’s game against Burnley, with Premier League protocols stating that players who suffer concussion should not play ball towards Sterling was intercepted by Arsenal’s David Luiz, but the defender could only push the ball further into Sterling’s path.
Taking to Twitter after the game, De Bruyne ‘corrected’ two Premier League tweets claiming he remains on 16 assists, as he now feels he should be on 18.
In the first, the Premier League noted that De Bruyne has the most goal contributions of any player this season after his goal against the Gunners from the penalty spot. Then, the league posted a graphic of the latest standings in the assists table. On both again for at least six days.
Garcia was cleaned out by his own goalkeeper Ederson as both defended an Arsenal through ball in the 3-0 win.
He was treated on the pitch for 11 minutes by concerned medics after losing consciousness, and was given oxygen before being stretchered off.
Manager Pep Guardiola revealed occasions, De Bruyne replied stating that he has registered 18 assists.
De Bruyne now has nine games to register the five assists needed to beat Henry’s record, something the pair have joked about this season.
“I always joked with Henry in the national team, even at Vincent Kompany’s testimonial this year, I saw him and said ‘I’m coming for you this year,’” De Bruyne said.
“To have 16 assists is really nice and speaks really well for a creative player.
“But if it doesn’t happen we still go on.”
Garcia would take a trip to hospital as a precautionary measure, and he spent a few hours at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
But Garcia was back in attendance at recovery sessions staged on Thursday, and was welcomed back by Ederson, who posted a picture of the two together on his Instagram account. City confirmed that Garcia was fine, but indicated that they are now following the monitoring process established by the league.
“Eric was taken to Manchester Royal Infirmary hospital after the game as a precaution for further tests,” City said in a statement. “He will be monitored in the coming days, ahead of a return to training and competitive action.”