The fact Manchester City are still fighting in three competitions despite the injuries we have faced this season is a testament to their impressive squad and the performance levels extracted by head coach Pep Guardiola.
The succession of injuries suffered by Manchester City has seen them face the majority of their campaign without the services of Kevin De Bruyne – the player who last season was considered their best player. For the second season running we have faced most of the season without the services of our one left back – Benjamin Mendy. In addition injuries to Fernandinho and David Silva have ruled them out in recent weeks forcing some squad rotation.
Vincent Kompany has continued to require careful management of his fitness and after some excellent performances found himself unable to play on. But he has also returned to training during the international break.
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In particular though the problems suffered by Kevin De Bruyne have been the most disruptive to our side. Two serious knee injuries have slowed his progress and just when he seemed to be finding his rhythm he suffered a hamstring problem. This is quite a normal reaction given the changes he has made to his running since his knee injuries. Luckily for City he is returning right at the point when will need our full squad due to the number of fixtures we will face.
Other squad players have also suffered injuries. Claudio Bravo has been ruled out for the season with a serious achilles injury. Eliaquim Mangala has recently returned after 12 months out through a cruciate knee ligament injury and Philippe Sandler has seen injury limit his opportunities too.
Having a succession of critical games during April will place some pressure upon our squad as we seek to maintain intensity every three days. So having the chance to select from a full and fit squad will be a significant boost to Guardiola as he seeks to continue to challenge across all competitions.
How soon those players returning from injury will take to achieve their best will be a crucial factor in team selection in the coming weeks. There are few games where we will have the luxury of allowing players an opportunity just to get 90 minutes under their belt. We will require each and every player to be operating at full strength so it could be some of these returning players do not immediately get the chance to return to first team action.
But what a dilemma it presents to Guardiola and what a warning it may be to the rest of our challengers, that City now have a full strength squad for the important remaining games.