Grealish will given all the time he needs to recover from latest injury setback

The loss of Jack Grealish has been the only real problem for Manchester City over the past couple of weeks, with the midfielder breaking down 38 minutes into his comeback from injury at Luton Town.

Consoled by Phil Foden, Grealish looked distraught on the bench after a recurrence of the groin problem that had kept him out for a fortnight previously.

Pep Guardiola has predicted this latest setback is going to be a bit longer, with this month’s international break earmarked as a vague date for a return to training by the City boss.

City are giving the 28-year-old all the time he needs to make sure the issue has fully cleared up before reintegrating him into the squad – even at this crucial stage of the season, with Guardiola’s side a point off Liverpool and in the last eight of both cup competitions.

There is an acceptance that Grealish probably rushed back too soon from the initial injury and did more damage last week as a result.

It’s hard to blame him given that this season has been a rollercoaster. A dead leg sustained in August – ‘the worst the doctor has ever seen’ – wasn’t a good start before Jeremy Doku’s encouraging form saw the Belgian preferred on the left wing during the opening months.

A break-in at his home and illness added further complications and the way Grealish wanted to carry on after initially pulling his groin at Copenhagen made it obvious how much he believes he has to prove. City hope a more relaxed rehabilitation will be to their mutual benefit.

City decide against Liverpool hotel stay to avoid fan tomfoolery

Given recent acrimony around the fixture, there’s always a lot of thought put into City against Liverpool from both sides.

City would usually travel to away matches the night beforehand but are again choosing to mitigate the risk of any potential firework displays or general tomfoolery around their hotel by remaining in Manchester on Saturday evening.

They will have a final session on the Saturday ahead of the title clash, before taking the coach over to Merseyside the morning after. They’re likely to spend a bit of time in a nearby hotel in the hours before kick-off for a pre-match meal.

Even though there’s only 35 miles between the northern powerhouses, Liverpool have stayed in Manchester in the past – most notably a Europa League knockout game at Old Trafford in 2016, when their night went off without issue.

Guardiola’s team will be back wearing blue at Anfield after sporting the third kit last season, a memorable strip for Joao Cancelo’s error that gifted Mohamed Salah a winner. The other difference this year is they arrive as world champions, with a gold badge. City will need that aura given they’ve only won at the ground twice in 21 years – and one of those was during Project Restart.

City's sneak peak behind new Netflix doc

You can’t walk around the City Football Academy (CFA) without being hit in the face by Netflix at the moment. There are hundreds of televisions in the building and the majority of them are running the trailer to the six-part docuseries on a loop ahead of its airing on the streaming platform from April 2.

The usual characters – Grealish, Erling Haaland – feature prominently as you’d expect but perhaps the most interesting aspect is a quick glimpse inside the dressing room when City lost away at Southampton in the Carabao Cup quarter-final.

In scenes reminiscent of his speech during an FA Cup defeat at Wigan in 2018, Guardiola can be seen berating the players at half time but sources have suggested that the short clip - where Guardiola sarcastically says ‘WOW’ to describe their abject display - is only a small segment of an all-time rant that has made it into the episode.

It clearly had an impact on the night, with captain Ilkay Gundogan admitting at the time that ‘something is missing, something is off’ and claiming that the players lacked the ‘hunger and desire of recent years’.

City great returns to oversee youth development

A familiar face has returned to the CFA this week as former defender Richard Dunne started his new role as a youth development coach in the club’s academy.

Dunne, 44, spent a decade as a player with City, the central defender winning four consecutive Player of the Year awards from 2005 under Kevin Keegan, Stuart Pearce and Sven-Goran Eriksson.

The ex-Republic of Ireland international’s son, Tayo, has been playing out in France and the family have been based in Monaco. Dunne has begun work at City on a temporary basis and is currently assisting the Under 16s.

Premier League prevent U23s clash from being broadcasted

This is a countrywide problem for academies but City were unable to broadcast their Elite Development Squad (U23) victory over Nottingham Forest on Monday due to Premier League rules.

Brian Barry-Murphy’s side won 2-0 but any fans who wanted to watch had to attend rather than stream the game. City TV usually shows the academy matches but the league stops this when it clashes with live senior games – in this case Arsenal’s 6-0 romp at Sheffield United.

A number of clubs are understood to be perplexed by the rules and hope that they are altered when the next broadcasting rights deals are negotiated. City have already raised the issue with the Premier League.

Presumably very few fans who wanted to spend their Monday night watching City’s next generation had very little interest in goings on at Bramall Lane anyway.