The Latest on the injury of Kyle Walker
Kyle Walker certainly holds the key for Pep Guardiola’s Man City when it comes to striking a balance between defensive and attacking patterns in their game. Walker is extremely quick on the pitch, and it enables him to cancel out any potential attacking threat from the opposition’s side that could harm his team in transition. Without him, City does look a bit vulnerable in those sorts of situations.
The England international picked up an injury during his country’s friendly encounter against Brazil and had to be subbed off just around 20 minutes into the match. Since then there have been a lot of questions regarding his potential return date for City. However, the club hasn’t been able to make any peculiar announcements regarding the extent of his injury and only specified that it’s a hamstring blow.
Walker didn’t play in City’s last two outings in the Premier League against Arsenal and Aston Villa. His last game for City was against Newcastle United which was a mid-march FA Cup quarterfinal. With reports suggesting that he is likely to miss out on City’s trip to Selhurst Park to face Crystal Palace now, the question lingers on his availability for the club’s Champions League fixture against Real Madrid on April 9.
As per the most recent reports, he is doubtful to be playing against Real Madrid in the mid-week UCL fixture. However, nothing major has been declared by the club’s hierarchy about his recovery and availability yet, and most of the reports term his participation in that match as highly unlikely. If by chance Walker manages to grab full fitness and play a chunk of the match, it will be a hefty boost for the reigning Champions.
However, Guardiola must be looking towards his bench in terms of options to fill Walker’s void if he remains an absentee. With Manuel Akanji stepping up in the last couple of games for City in the right-back position, it can be depicted that he is likely to be the replacement for Kyle Walker till the England international recovers from his hamstring injury. However, it must be kept in mind that Akanji is not a natural right-back, as he primarily plays as a centre-back.
Kyle Walker for Man City in the 2023-2024 season so far
In the 2023-2024 Premier League season, Kyle Walker has appeared in 26 out of 30 matches that Man City has played so far. He is one of the first names on the team sheet in their league matches. In addition to his defensive contributions, he is also pretty capable of joining in the quick turnovers from the wider areas of the pitch. He has two assists to his name for the club in the ongoing season.
As far as international competitions are concerned, he has played five UEFA Champions League matches for City this season till now. He has started about 60 percent of matches for his team in the competition. Pep Guardiola would be itching for the player to get back to his full fitness as soon as possible.
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