IAN WRIGHT’S REACTION TO WHAT HE’S HEARING FROM MAN. CITY CAMP- ‘BIG, BIG THING FOR LIVERPOOL’.
Ian Wright has claimed that injuries to Manchester City duo, Kyle Walker and Kevin de Bruyne, is a ‘big, big thing’ for Liverpool, as he told the Kelly and Wrighty Show on Premier League Productions (14/04/22 at 12:25 pm).
Man City were involved in a pretty aggressive and fired up Champions League quarter-final clash against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
Whilst Pep Guardiola’s side progressed to the semi-finals, it came at a cost ahead of their FA Cup semi-final showdown with Liverpool.
Both de Bruyne and Walker went off injured, with Guardiola claiming after the game that his side are in ‘big trouble’, as he told Sky Sports.
On the other hand, Jurgen Klopp was able to rest some of his heavyweight hitters and come out of their Champions League clash with Benfica injury-free.
But given the problems facing Man City, Wright thinks this suits Liverpool because their rivals will find it ‘difficult’ to fill the void of those two players.
“You are going through a period of the season where you want everybody fit,” said Wright.
“If you look at it from a squad and a mental kind of aspect confidence and one-upmanship, then you have to say Kyle Walker and Kevin de Bruyne missing is a big, big thing for Liverpool.
“You have to try and make sure that, whoever is playing, you have to take advantage that those two players might not be playing.
“Unfortunately for Man City, this is what happens when you get to this stage. You may miss key players. It’s now up to the Man City players to fill the void of those two players, which is going to be difficult.”
It was de Bruyne who opened the scoring on Sunday against Liverpool, so his big-game performances will be a miss if he can’t make Wembley.
But Walker might prove to be the biggest miss because of what he provides on the flanks for Man City when they are pressing so high up the pitch.
Joao Cancelo will probably revert back to right-back, with Oleksandr Zinchenko being deployed at left-back.
Either way, if these two are out for a while, then it could have a big bearing on the weekend clash, the Premier League and the Champions League.
