Jack Grealish could return for Manchester City as the champions host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday.
The England midfielder has missed the treble winners’ last three games with a knee injury and was also unavailable for international duty earlier this month.
The 28-year-old is now back in training, easing manager Pep Guardiola’s injury concerns after Bernardo Silva this week joined a casualty list that also includes Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Mateo Kovacic.
PEP 💬 Jack is coming back, training well and could be ready. Kova is almost [ready], the last part of the recovery but now we lost Bernardo for a few days and John, KDB, they are still out. pic.twitter.com/KErsojIUrY
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 22, 2023
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Guardiola said at a press conference: “We need the injured players back because we have a lot of games and we cannot play with the same players.
“Jack is coming back. He has trained well and maybe he will be ready for some minutes. Kova is almost there, he’s in the last part of the recovery but now we’ve lost Bernardo. John and Kevin are still out.”
Silva left the field in little obvious discomfort towards the end of the first half of Tuesday’s Champions League win over Red Star Belgrade at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola has since given little information on the nature of the Portugal international’s problem other than to confirm he faces a short spell on the sidelines.
He said: “He has a little injury. It is nothing much. The clinical development is good but it could be one week, 10 days, two weeks that he will be out.”
A fortnight’s absence could mean Silva would also miss the Carabao Cup trip to Newcastle, a Premier League game at Wolves and the Champions League clash at RB Leipzig. City then travel to Arsenal on October 8.
City’s immediate task is trying to extend their winning start to the campaign against Forest.
City were held to a draw by Steve Cooper’s side last February and Guardiola has been impressed by their progress.
He said: “When he took over two years ago in the Championship it was not good at Nottingham Forest.
“But he made an incredible run, got them promoted. They struggled last season but in the end they finished well.
“There were a lot of good signs and this season they have started really well. They have made more points than last season.
“They are physical and well organised. We have to be careful but we are optimistic we can do what we have to do, with our people, to make the sixth win in a row.”
