Manchester City suffered a fresh injury blow in their 1-1 draw at West Ham United on Saturday as Sergio Aguero was withdrawn at halftime at the London Stadium. The Argentine striker was replaced by Phil Foden, who grabbed City's equaliser, and manager Pep Guardiola said later he had suffered a muscular injury, only a week after making his first start of the season following knee surgery. “A hamstring I think, but tomorrow we will know exactly,” said Guardiola, whose side have managed only eight points from their opening five games of the Premier League season. It is City's worst league start for six years, with injuries not helping. Fernandinho was unavailable on Saturday after limping off in midweek against Porto, while Nathan Ake was another absentee and Kevin De Bruyne started on the bench after also struggling with an injury. Aymeric Laporte returned to training in midweek but did not feature at West Ham. Until young England midfielder Foden came on, City lacked urgency. But the 20-year-old gave them the spark they were missing, cancelling out Michail Antonio's superb opener. Guardiola looked frustrated at the end. “The reality is we had four of five guys with COVID. We didn't have time for regeneration,” he said. “Our striker (Gabriel Jesus) was injured in the first game. Sergio was out for four months. Kevin was injured. Gundogan came back from COVID. To play every three days you need the whole squad. To not have the whole squad is more difficult. “I am not saying this is the reason why, I am just putting this on the table. It's the reality.” Kyle Walker was also substituted in the second half with Guardiola saying he was “exhausted”. “Now we recover and think of the next game in the Champions League (away to Marseille),” Guardiola said. (For more sports news and updates, follow Ahram Online Sports on Twitter at @AO_Sports and on Facebook at AhramOnlineSports.)
