London: Vincent Kompany is a serious doubt for Manchester City’s Premier League game at home to Liverpool on Saturday lunchtime as Pep Guardiola faces the prospect of an early defensive headache.
The City captain has missed training for the past two days after feeling his calf tighten in the lead up to Belgium’s 2-1 win away to Greece last Sunday, three days after he took a blow to the knee during the 9-0 thrashing of Gibraltar. Belgium’s medical staff were of the opinion that the problem was not overly serious but Kompany and City are taking no chances with his fitness and he will be assessed again on Friday.
If Kompany misses the Liverpool game, Guardiola could be forced stick with four at the back, as favoured in the last outing against Bournemouth, rather than the three-man defence deployed against Brighton and Everton, unless he is willing to draft in Eliaquim Mangala or play a midfielder such as Yaya Toure or Fernandinho alongside John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi.
Given Guardiola’s fondness for playing three at the back, City’s failure to recruit another centre-half this summer looked a risk regardless of Kompany’s chequered injury record. City had an interest in Italy defender Leonardo Bonucci and Southampton’s Virgil van Dijk before turning their sights to Jonny Evans, the West Bromwich Albion centre-half who was the subject of two bids.
But City’s inability to offload Mangala ended any possibility of bringing in Evans and whether the Frenchman has Guardiola’s trust is likely to be put to the test should Kompany be missing for any period of time.
— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2017
