Pep Guardiola was open about Jack Grealish’s injury being a doubt for Manchester City’s opening game kicking off their fourth straight Premier League title defence.
Grealish suffered a knock in training ahead of Saturday’s Community Shield penalty shootout win over cross-city rivals Manchester United and was left out as a precaution, which could extend to Sunday when City head off to Stamford Bridge to face Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea selection as Guardiola doesn’t want the injury further aggravated.“Discomfort for two days but especially on Friday, his feeling wasn’t good,’ Guardiola said. ‘I don’t think it’s a big issue but we didn’t want to take a risk. It’s a blow, he had rhythm and was aggressive.
“Maybe against Chelsea he will be ready or I’m pretty sure against Ipswich Town. If he’d got Jeremy Doku and new £33million signing Savinho will vie for the left wing berth in Grealish’s place. Savinho impressed off the bench at Wembley on debut.”
Guardiola added: “Savinho will understand us perfectly. I know many, many actions for Girona last season, going to the byline, cross to the near post or the far post, and the strikers scored a lot of goals. He’s so fast in transition.”