Enzo Maresca has given an update on Elliot Anderson after he came off injured during Manchester City’s 2-1 win over Bournemouth on Sunday.
After being humiliated by Arsenal on his debut in the Community Shield last week, Maresca was on course to lose his first Premier League match since replacing Pep Guardiola in the City dugout.
Marcus Tavernier gave Bournemouth a shock lead at the Etihad, with City struggling to get to grips with Maresca’s tactics, which included defender Marc Guehi bizarrely playing in midfield.
But it was Guehi who got the Citizens back in the game, equalising late on before Joško Gvardiol scored in injury-time to snatch the three points for the home side.
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But there was bad news for Maresca, as summer signing Anderson went down on the pitch during the second-half, feeling his hamstring after a collision with Alex Scott.
The midfielder, who started every game bar one for England at the World Cup, was able to get to his feet but was quickly substituted for Mateo Kovacic.
The sight of Anderson limping off the pitch in his first league game since his record-breaking £116million transfer from Nottingham Forest, is not one City fans wanted to see.
But Maresca has allayed fears of any painful injury, revealing Anderson was just suffering from cramp as a result of not having a proper pre-season following the World Cup.
‘I think it was cramp,’ The Italian told reporters after full-time.
‘We still have four or five players that are not 100 per cent and he is one of them.’
He later added in his post-match press conference: ‘Today we had four or five players that arrived very late, 10 days ago, so for them it’s almost still pre-season.
‘Erling [Haaland] is one, Elliot, Marc Guehi, Nico O’Reilly, so it’s complicated. But they’ve done a huge effort to help.’
There’s a quick turnaround to City’s next game away to Crystal Palace on Friday night.
Anderson is expected to play a key role for the Citizens, whose midfield is being completely rebuilt this season following Guardiola’s departure.
Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders have departed, while shortly before kick-off it was reported that City have agreed an £85.6m deal to sign Lille teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi.
More to follow…
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