Manchester City confirmed they could be without Kyle Walker for Saturday’s FA Cup clash with Cheltenham Town after the 30-year-old picked up an injury in Wednesday’s 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa.
Walker collided with Jack Grealish inside of half an hour and was eventually replaced by Oleksandr Zinchenko after failing to run off the injury and being looked at by club physio.
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Pep Guardiola said after the game: “I haven’t spoken to the doctor. If Kyle asks to be out, it is because something happened. Hopefully it is just a kick.”
City have three more games to come this month – Cheltenham (January 23), West Bromwich Albion (January 26) and Sheffield United (January 30) – but it remains to be seen what the extent of Walker’s problem is.
The England international has made 22 appearances in all competitions this season, scoring one goal and supplying one assist. He’s been a regular at right-back under Guardiola but might have to be replaced by Joao Cancelo for the foreseeable. Time will tell.
City won’t know for sure what the situation with Walker is until they get a diagnosis from the doctor, but he might be rested for the FA Cup encounter as a precaution. Guardiola is likely to ring the changes when his side travel to face the League Two outfit in the FA Cup, so Walker and others might not even feature.