Man City suffer major injury blow as key man is ruled out of Man Utd showdown

Manchester City have been dealt a major injury blow as Sergio Aguero is set to miss the derby against Manchester United due to a thigh problem, according to the Independent.

Aguero limped off and had to be replaced by Gabriel Jesus in the 77th minute during City’s 2-1 victory over Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening after picking up a knock.

Despite the injury set-back, the Citizens were able to hold on and secure a much-needed victory over Chelsea that moved the defending Premier League champions up to third in the table and to within nine points of leaders Liverpool.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference this afternoon ahead of Man City’s Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night, Pep Guardiola confirmed Aguero is now facing ‘a few weeks’ on the sidelines.

Guardiola was unable to give a specific time-frame but he says the Argentinean international will be out for a number of games and the Independent claims the striker is certain to miss the visit of Manchester United next month.

Guardiola is quoted by the newspaper as saying today:

“He will be out a few games, I don’t know exactly [how long], a few weeks but he will be out. It will be a few weeks.

“Of course we are going to miss Sergio as we need him. Unfortunately we’ve had a lot of problems with injuries – big ones with Aymeric and Leroy – and now we will miss him.

“Meanwhile we have Gabriel and [Raheem] Sterling who can play there in that position. We are going to live without him for a while.”

The news will come as a big blow to City as they are already having to deal without Aymeric Laporte and Leroy Sané to long-term injuries while full-back Oleksandr Zinchenko is also out with a knee injury.

Aguero is now facing a spell on the sidelines and will miss tomorrow’s Champions League clash with Shakhtar Donetsk and the subsequent Premier League matches against Newcastle and Burnley.

However, his absence for the Manchester derby against United on December 9th will be a particular concern as Guardiola’s team cannot afford to drop any more points as they look to chase down Liverpool in the title race.

Jesus is now expected to deputise up front over the coming games starting against Donetsk on Tuesday night where City need just a point to qualify from Group C and book their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.