Man City handed injury concern for Newcastle trip plus more spotted in training
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City had every player available to travel to Newcastle, but there was a notable absentee from training.
As Pep Guardiola missed Manchester City training on Friday, so did one of his key first team players.
Guardiola was waiting on the results of a second Covid test after a first had returned an inconclusive result, but it was later confirmed to be negative and the manager will travel with the squad to Newcastle on Saturday.
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After testing negative, Guardiola gave a team news update on his City squad, revealing that only Ferran Torres is missing for the trip to St James’ Park.
However, there was an immediate concern following those comments as City published footage of the squad training on Friday – without right-back Kyle Walker.
We’ve looked at the footage and picked out the big talking points.
Where’s Walker?
Kyle Walker missed the win over Leeds for fitness reasons and was missing again in the footage City put out on Friday. He could have been working inside, but his absence from the rest of the group suggests he might still be struggling with the issue that forced him out in the week.
Joao Cancelo was back after serving a suspension against Leeds, while Aleks Zinchenko can continue at left-back if Walker is absent, but perhaps City are giving Walker as much time as possible to return to full fitness this weekend.
New youngster trains
There was a new face in training as most youngsters were involved with the under-23s in their Premier League 2 win over Brighton on Friday night.
Cole Palmer was on the scoresheet, as was Josh Wilson-Esbrand – who was on the bench against Leeds as Walker and Cancelo missed out. Fellow full-back CJ Egan-Riley also played for the EDS, suggesting City aren’t too concerned about Walker’s fitness.
The new youngster – who couldn’t be confidently identified – was also joined by centre-back Luke Mbete, the only academy regular to remain with the first team. James McAtee, who missed the U23 game, wasn’t with the first team so may have picked up an injury.
Carson in the thick of things
Scott Carson made his City debut the last time they went to Newcastle, and he was well involved in training ahead of this weekend’s journey north. First, he was the butt of a prank by Kevin De Bruyne, who kicked a ball from under the goalkeeper as he sat for a rest.
Then, the pair reconciled to team up on the victorious seven-a-side team with John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Luke Mbete.
High spirits
As the first teamers enjoyed a rondo drill in front of assistant Rodolfo Borrell, there was a cheer as Phil Foden nutmegged John Stones to the delight of his teammates.
As Stones tried to downplay the ‘megs’, Foden was seen wheeling away in celebration as Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva and Jack Grealish all reminded Stones of what had just happened.
Full squad seen training on Friday: Ederson, Steffen, Carson, Ake, Dias, Stones, Laporte, Cancelo, Zinchenko, Mbete, Rodri, Fernandinho, Gundogan, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish, Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling. [Plus one unidentified youngster.]
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