Manchester City cruised to victory against Luton Town in the FA Cup – but there was one negative when Jack Grealish went off in the first-half with another injury.
City thrashed Luton 6-2 at Kenilworth Road, with Erling Haaland the star of the show scoring five goals.
Kevin De Bruyne assisted four of those goals, and Mateo Kovacic also scored to round off a great night.
But there was one sour note, and that was when Jack Grealish limped off for City in the first-half with an apparent groin injury.
The same happened for the England international when City played Copenhagen a couple of weeks ago in the Champions League…
Man City star Jack Grealish sends message after going off with injury against Luton
As was the case against Copenhagen, Grealish was having a good game before the injury curse struck.
The 28-year-old tried to play on but was clearly in too much discomfort and had to be replaced by Jeremy Doku.
TV cameras picked up Grealish looking distraught as he hid his face in his hood on the bench.
It has been a very frustrating season so far for the £100 million star, who was one of City’s key players last season en route to the Treble.
He just hasn’t really been able to get going this term, making 27 appearances so far for a total of 1587 minutes.
After last night’s game, Pep Guardiola was unable to shed too much light on Grealish’s latest injury. The Spaniard will likely give another update later in the week ahead of City’s next game with Manchester United in the Premier League.
Grealish did take to Instagram after the game last night to send a message to fans, writing: “Well done boys (blue heart emoji). Away support was unreal!! Hoping my injury isn’t too bad (two praying emojis).”
Gutting for Grealish – and for City
It was a sad sight seeing Grealish trudge off the pitch early again.
It has not been his season so far, and you’ve got to feel for him going from someone who was practically undroppable last season to a player who cannot string a handful of games together.
It’s gutting for him, but also Pep Guardiola, who plays Grealish in most of the big games – the winger would surely have started against Manchester United this weekend.
He may not produce the goals and assists numbers that he should, but City are arguably more ‘City-like’ when he plays as he gives a lot of control and ball-retention. Hopefully, this will only be another short stint on the sidelines.
