It was somewhat surprising to see England’s big clubs doing well in the Premier League last weekend after so many were hit hard by the “FIFA virus” during the international break, with Manchester City and Liverpool suffering the most from injuries. Despite the setbacks, Jürgen Klopp kicked off his Liverpool regime with a “reasonable” draw at White Hart Lane, while the other top clubs all grabbed full points.
City manager Manuel Pellegrini was far from impressed to see happy to see his injury list expand with the latest victims being attacking duo David Silva and Sergio Agüero. Worryingly, Agüero will be sidelined for a month due to the hamstring injury suffered while playing for Argentina and his impressive goal ratio this season – which includes a five goal haul against Newcastle last start – is sure to be missed.
But City’s squad depth was on show against Bournemouth on Saturday with Raheem Sterling scoring his first career hat trick. Wilfred Bony also opened his account this season with a brace as their 5-1 win took them to the top of the league – two points clear of Manchester United and Arsenal respectively.
Liverpool has one of the longest injury lists in the league, with nine first team players currently sidelined. Klopp was forced to start his fourth choice striker in Divock Origi against Tottenham just days after discovering two of the side’s most impressive young players so far this season in Danny Ings and Joe Gomez had suffered serious knee injuries while on duty with the England national team. Daniel Sturridge, who has played very few games over the past 12 months, was again absent after suffering a minor knee injury at training last Friday while Christian Benteke, Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson joined them on the sidelines. No wonder he regarded the draw against Tottenham as “a reasonable start”.
