Manchester City are officially in an injury crisis with five of their big stars now out for an unknown period.
The crisis deepened on Thursday night with captain Alex Greenwood stretchered off the pitch with a suspected knee injury. Fans wait nervously for an update with concerns the injury is an ACL rupture. City are yet to release an update on what the specific issue is.
City were also without Bunny Shaw for Thursday's Champions League 2-0 Women's Champions League win over St Polten. Vivianne Miedema and Lauren Hemp are also out with knee injuries, while Chloe Kelly is returning to play after concussion.
Manchester City: What has Gareth Taylor said about injuries?
Manager Gareth Taylor gave updates on the fresh injury concerns to Shaw and Greenwood.
Taylor said on Jamaica international Shaw: “I’m not too sure [what the injury is], we’ve had multiple scans on the area that she has the issue with, we’ll have to wait and find out. I don’t think we’ll see her until the new year which is a shame for us because she was in a really good vein of form."
He said on England international Greenwood, who won the Euros in 2022: "We’ll have to assess. Alex doesn’t normally come off unless it’s an issue, hopefully it’s nothing too bad because we could do without it, we’re missing so many players."
City are also currently without Laura Coombs, Naomi Layzell and Sandy McIver. He added: "We’re really up against it player-wise.”
City have two more games in 2024 before the Women's Super League takes a break. The 14/15 December is the last round of the WSL until the league returns on 17 January.
City play Everton in the WSL on Sunday and then face defending champions Barcelona in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday.
The Champions League fixture is the final group stage match for both teams, which in FourFourTwo's view Barcelona will likely win now City have this injury crisis.
City and Barca have both qualified for the quarter-finals but if the Spanish team beat City by more than two goals then they will leapfrog the English club to top the group.
Barca already has a greater goal difference than City but a win for the Spanish team over the English side would level the two clubs on points in the group.
The rule in the Women's Champions League is if two clubs are equal on points, the goal difference between the two clubs is compared. City beat Barca 2-0 In October which is why the Spanish club need to win this encounter by two goals or more.
The task seems more plausible with City's injury list, especially as Hemp, Shaw, Greenwood and Miedema played vital roles in their win over Barca.
