Pep Guardiola was open about Jack Grealish\u2019s injury being a doubt for Manchester City\u2019s opening game kicking off their fourth straight Premier League\u00a0title defence.<\/p>\n
Grealish suffered a knock in training ahead of Saturday\u2019s Community Shield penalty shootout win over cross-city rivals Manchester United\u00a0and was left out as a precaution, which could extend to Sunday when City head off to Stamford Bridge to face Enzo Maresca\u2019s Chelsea selection as Guardiola doesn\u2019t want the injury further aggravated.\u201cDiscomfort for two days but especially on Friday, his feeling wasn\u2019t good,\u2019 Guardiola said. \u2018I don\u2019t think it\u2019s a big issue but we didn\u2019t want to take a risk. It\u2019s a blow, he had rhythm and was aggressive.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe against Chelsea he will be ready or I\u2019m pretty sure against Ipswich\u00a0Town. If he\u2019d got Jeremy Doku and new \u00a333million signing Savinho will vie for the left wing berth in Grealish\u2019s place. Savinho impressed off the bench at Wembley on debut.\u201d<\/p>\n
Guardiola added: \u201cSavinho 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"