Manchester City's Phil Foden has revealed that he suffered a recurrence of a persistent foot injury in their weekend win over Newcastle United.
The 22-year-old netted an eye-catching solo effort in the victory as Pep Guardiola's side kept the pressure on Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.
However, Foden revealed after the 2-0 success that he felt pain in his foot during the game, although he hopes that a few days of rest will help keep him fit as Man City face a marathon end to the season, still fighting on three fronts.
"It was the derby, I had it just before but it wasn't too serious then. I damaged it a bit more against United, unfortunately today I've kind of hurt it again today but now I need to rest up. We've got two days off now so hopefully I'll have the chance to rest it," he told reporters.
After going off early against Manchester United in mid-January, Foden did not start again for another five weeks, but started all three matches in a seven-day period against Newcastle, Bristol City and Bournemouth this week.
Foden believes the quantity of matches on City's calendar has contributed to the injury, adding: "We are always playing and there is no time to rest, sometimes your feet just need to rest and that was it really.
"It goes through moments, it's one of those injuries where physios can't really help, it goes when it goes, you have to learn how to manage it."
City have the upcoming midweek off before another busy turnover sees them play three games in seven days again across three separate competitions next week.
With the international break on the horizon too, it remains unclear whether Foden will make himself available for the England squad at the end of the month with these injury concerns on his mind. body check tags ::
