Man City's Kevin De Bruyne Out 5-6 Weeks With Fresh Knee Injury
Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is set to miss more than a month of action after suffering a knee injury during City's 2-0 victory over Fulham in the Carabao Cup on Thursday.
The Belgian was withdrawn in the later stages of the match after Fulham's Timothy Fosu-Mensah fell backwards onto De Bruyne's knee. He was able to walk off the pitch, but looked very uncomfortable doing so.
Pep Guardiola confirmed at his Friday press conference that the club doctor said that De Bruyne will miss the next 5-6 weeks, though will not require surgery.
As a result, the Belgian could miss Man City's next 10 games in all competitions, including next weekend's Manchester derby.
The 27-year-old has just returned from an eight-game absence as a result of ligament damage to his other knee, and news of this new injury will come as a huge blow to Guardiola, who was full of praise for De Bruyne following the match against Fulham.
"I think today Kevin is back, no? It’s the Kevin we know," Guardiola said. "He made a huge effort in Donetsk against Shakhtar. He played a few minutes in a difficult situation against Spurs.
"It was a difficult situation because of the pitch and the conditions and tough physicality but today again he was involved in the offensive and defensive side, in the pace, in the set pieces, the passes and assists.
"Hopefully what happened in the last minutes is not serious."
The match against Fulham was just De Bruyne's fifth appearance all season, and he is yet to complete a full 90 minutes in any of those matches after suffering an injury during the opening weeks of the new Premier League season.
However, City have coped relatively fine without the Belgian. They find themselves top of the league, level on points with Liverpool, and are yet to taste defeat in the competition. Guardiola's side possess incredible depth in midfield, with the likes of Bernardo Silva, Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling all stepping up in De Bruyne's absence.
