Manchester City’s Gundogan facing ‘several months’ out

MANCHESTER City have been dealt a blow after a star player sustained a knee injury that manager Pep Guardiola fears will sideline him for “several months”.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola.

MANCHESTER City have been dealt a blow after German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan sustained a knee injury that manager Pep Guardiola fears will sideline him for “several months”.

The Germany international had to be substituted in the 44th minute of City’s 2-0 Premier League win over Watford at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday after an accidental collision with Nordin Amrabat.

Guardiola revealed afterwards he had sustained suspected knee ligament damage. “We are going to miss him for a long time,” said Guardiola. “This is the worst news.

“I’m so so sad. The doctors think he has ligament damage, but he doesn’t know exactly (how serious it is).

“We will know tomorrow (Thursday), but it doesn’t look good. I think it will be several months. He is so sad about it.”

Ilkay Gundogan of Manchester City is challenged by Nordin Amrabat of Watford.

Gundogan, 26, joined City from Borussia Dortmund in June for a reported fee of £20 million ($25.1 million, 23.8 million euros).

He had dislocated his kneecap in May while training with Germany, which ruled him out of Euro 2016.

Spinal surgery had previously cost him the entire 2013-14 campaign.

Initially sidelined after undergoing surgery at the end of last season, he has impressed since making his debut in a 4-0 Champions League win over Borussia Moenchengladbach on September 14.

To date Gundogan has made 15 appearances for City in all competitions, scoring five goals.

His injury cast a long shadow over a home victory for City -- their first since beating Bournemouth on September 17 -- that was secured by goals from Pablo Zabaleta and David Silva.

Chelsea's Eden Hazard (L) goes down hurt after a foul by West Bromwich Albion's Gareth McAuley.

Chelsea midfielder Eden Hazard was ruled out of the Premier League leaders’ trip to Sunderland on Wednesday after suffering a knee injury.

Hazard sustained the problem during Sunday’s 1-0 win over West Bromwich Albion and although he continued playing in that match, the Belgium star was deemed unfit to feature at the Stadium of Light, which Chelsea won 1-0 courtesy of Cesc Fabregas’ goal.

Hazard’s absence is a blow to Chelsea’s hopes of extending their lead at the top of the table, but Blues boss Antonio Conte doesn’t think he will be without his influential playmaker for long.

“Eden got a knock in his knee and now he’s injured,” Conte told Sky Sports.

Roberto Pereyra (R).

Asked if Hazard would be absent for a lengthy period, Conte added: “I don’t think. For this game, he couldn’t play.” Brazil winger Willian replaced Hazard in the Chelsea starting line-up against struggling Sunderland as the west London team chased a 10th successive league win.

Watford manager Walter Mazzarri has injury concerns of his own after midfielder Roberto Pereyra came off after half an hour.

“The problem is his knee,” said the Italian. “And we need to understand what it is exactly, because we still don’t know. We will know in the next few days.”

Originally published as Manchester City’s Gundogan facing ‘several months’ out