Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, says he will pray for Gabriel Jesus’ quick recovery after the forward striker was forced off the pitch early during Monday’s 2-0 win over Bournemouth.


Jesus, who had scored three goals in his first four City appearances before the game at the Vitality Stadium, appeared to twist his ankle in the first half before being replaced by Sergio Aguero.

Guardiola says he hopes the injury isn’t serious, with the 19-year-old set to be assessed by City’s medical team on Tuesday.

“Hopefully I will pray it will not be a big issue,” he said.

“I was especially pleased with the performance, that’s why we got the result. We could have scored more goals so we played a good game in one of the toughest games away. I know how tough Bournemouth are. Except 10 minutes in the second half when they pushed a lot, we controlled it and our build up is much, much better.

“Every player is more in the position and I’m so happy for all the players because they played a really good performance. We know how the gap between all the teams is so close, between second and sixth. Today we started the game in fifth position in the Premier League and now we are second so it means everybody is there.

“It’s so up and down and you know if lose you a game you are going to be down so it will be a good battle to qualify for the Champions League next season. We saw in the games against Arsenal and Liverpool how tough and how dangerous Bournemouth are and we made a real performance in all senses except 10 minutes in the second half when they pushed a lot.

“That is normal in this stadium, with these players. I am so pleased with what we have done and especially the last 10, 15 minutes we did the best way to keep the result with a thousand million passes and in the right moment, the attacker runs in behind. We did really well.”

City, who appear to be finding form at just the right time having lost just once in their last eight games in all competitions, moved up to second in the table and cut Chelsea’s lead at the top of the Premier League table to eight points after the win.

http://www.ngcube.com/guardiola-i-will-pray-for-jesus/