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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is set to welcome back a number of players this weekend after time on the sidelines
As good as the performance at Arsenal was, it seemed to unleash another issue for Manchester City. Already missing Rayan Ait-Nouri, Rayan Cherki, Omar Marmoush and Mateo Kovacic through injury, three intense games in a week in early September also saw Abdukodir Khusanov and Rodri sidelined.
Pep Guardiola knew that the Huddersfield match a few days later was the least important of those coming up, but he was still staring at the bleak reality of at least four of his stars being out until the middle of October as well as more doubts over Rodri. Having had one season completely derailed by injury, City were in danger of a repeat performance.
The longer the injury issues went on, the more City must have questioned themselves. There has been horrible luck involved in Rodri's problems, and the performance team would like to say the same for the rest of the squad but there has to be scrutiny when so many players are sidelined for so long.
Bernardo Silva put Khusanov's injury down to the team not having enough time to rest between games and Rodri's issue was similar, although it was Guardiola's decision to pick the same starting XI for three games in a week. As the Blues left North London, there could be no guarantees that their injury issues weren't about to get even worse.
Instead, improvement has been better than expected. Mateo Kovacic has made the last few matchday squads and while he hasn't kicked a ball for the Blues yet he looked impressive playing for Croatia in the last few days.
Rayan Cherki was back before time, travelling with the group to Monaco before making the bench at Brentford. City's injuries on the whole have gone from six out for the Huddersfield down to five for Burnley, four for Monaco and three for Brentford.
There may well be greater caution needed with Rodri. The Spaniard left Brentford hoping he can play against Everton despite coming off with a hamstring problem in West London, but a stop-start nature of his games can't be good for anyone.
However, with Ait-Nouri, Marmoush and Khusanov expected back for the home game against Everton on Saturday, Guardiola could have no injuries in his squad for the first game since he took his players to Tottenham in May 2024 looking to win their fourth consecutive title.
It's boring to talk about injuries being so consequential, and very few people outside of the Etihad will be putting last season's problems down to absent players. It is, though, simply impossible to get away from them - especially when Guardiola prefers to work with such a small squad.
Having a fit squad can be the difference between winning trophies or not even competing for them, and City will be thrilled if they can have a full complement to choose from for Everton this weekend.
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