Manchester City beat Brentford to secure a 1-0 win in the Premier League but Kevin De Bruyne did not play in that match due to an injury scare.
The Belgian picked up a hamstring problem during the opening game of the season against Burnley which forced him to miss five months of football. He made his comeback against Huddersfield on January 7 but he sat on the bench in midweek due to a niggle in his hamstring.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Pep said(h/t Goal): “He has niggles in his hamstring area and I didn’t want to take any risk with him. He’s OK, he’s OK, it was more about prevention. He said he didn’t feel comfortable and the doctors said not to take a risk.”
The MCFC manager has made it very clear that Kevin De Bruyne is not injured and his omission is just a precaution but Guardiola will be a really worried man right now.
KDB’s return has made an instant impact because, in eight appearances since January, the playmaker has scored two and assisted six goals across all competitions. Apart from the Spurs and Chelsea games, De Bruyne has made goal contributions in every match.
Next up, MCFC face Bournemouth and then in a span of 12 days, the defending champions take on Manchester United, Liverpool and also a UCL clash against FC Copenhagen.
Kevin De Bruyne won’t be risked against the Cherries, that’s for sure but if it is the same hamstring in which he had surgery then Pep will have to be really careful with how he uses the Belgian.
Manchester City are pushing to reclaim the top spot on the EPL table and they have a game in hand but the matches are coming in thick and fast and there’s no way KDB can play 90 minutes every matchweek.
Julian Alvarez has done remarkably well in the No 10 role and we feel the manager is going to use the Argentine in tandem with Kevin De Bruyne just to make sure the experienced pro does not suffer a stress injury during the business end of the season.
