KALVIN PHILLIPS’ World Cup dreams are in the balance after a recurrence of his shoulder problem.
Phillips was left out of the Manchester City squad for Saturday’s comfortable 3-0 win at Wolves and is set to pull out of Gareth Southgate’s 28-man party for the forthcoming Nations League matches.
And if the chronic injury requires surgery, the Euro 2020 hero will face a race against time to be fit to go to Qatar in November.
Phillips has played just 13 minutes of competitive football for City since moving to the Etihad from Leeds for £45million in the summer.
He and Declan Rice formed a midfield partnership that was key to England’s success at the Euros last year.
Southgate’s options in that department were already limited and losing Phillips for the World Cup would be a huge blow.
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The Three Lions boss is set to name his squad for Qatar in less than a month and there must now be serious doubt about his availability.
The setback for Phillips was the only bad news for City in their victory over 10-man Wolves.
Jack Grealish opened the scoring after 55 seconds and Erling Haaland made it 2-0 in the 16th minute to continue his incredible start to life at City.
The Norwegian now has 14 goals in 10 appearances, and 11 in seven in the Premier League.
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Life was made even easier for City when Nathan Collins was sent off for an X-rated foul on Grealish in the 33rd minute.
Wolves played better with 10 men than 11, but Phil Foden grabbed a third goal as City went top of the Premier League.
Boss Pep Guardiola said: “To play at this time after a Champions League game is so dangerous.
“The game started really well for us with the two goals and the red card.
“To come here at 12:30 with the quality they have, they can keep the ball and transitions are fast, it was an incredible victory.
“We struggled a lot after half-time until Phil’s goal so a lot of credit to Wolves.”
Both Guardiola and Wolves boss Bruno Lage said they thought that Collins’ foul was unintentional.
Lage said: “I don’t believe Collins wanted to do that. He tried to play the ball.
“It can be a yellow card or a red. I saw a similar situation in the Aston Villa against Southampton game and it was just a foul.
“It depends on the referee, but I have nothing to say against [the red card].”
Wolves captain Ruben Neves said: “We had a plan for the game. We worked all week on the plan then in the first minute we conceded.
“It’s hard to play against Manchester City and it’s even harder when you start the game losing 1-0. They’re the best team in the world with the ball. When they’re winning they control the game really well.
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“The red card took us down a little bit.
“We did a great second half. We were controlling the game – even with 10 men – before their third goal. Our plan was to do that from the beginning.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
