Manchester City’s anxious wait over the condition of David Silva appears to be over after the City midfielder tweeted an update on his status on Sunday afternoon.
The Spaniard was taken to hospital to have his cheekbone and collarbone examined after being injured during Sunday’s 2-0 win over West Ham United. The victory at the Etihad Stadium brought welcome relief to the champions and the under-pressure manager, Manuel Pellegrini, who refused afterwards to comment on his future.
Silva was caught by the flailing arm of Cheikhou Kouyaté on 66 minutes and required eight minutes of treatment. The Spaniard was carried off on a stretcher and needed an oxygen mask before going for X-rays. He later tweeted that he had already been given the all clear to return home.
“Many thanks to all the messages of support, all the tests have gone well and I’m already home.The 3 points is what was important!” wrote Silva.
Many thanks to all the messages of support, all the tests have gone well and I'm already home.The 3 points is what was important!
— David Silva (@21LVA) April 19, 2015
Pellegrini offered no complaints about the challenge of Kouyaté. “I always think that a player doesn’t want to damage another player. The referee was so near and he decided it was unintentional. Nothing more happens,” he said.
The West Ham manager, Sam Allardyce, concurred. “It was accidental. It was innocuous. I didn’t think it was a foul. I just had a look now. Everybody thinks it is a more serious attack from Cheikhou than it was. It wasn’t deliberate at all.”
Of his own future and comments from Yaya Touré’s agent that emerged earlier that he is a “weak” manager Pellegrini said: “No comment.”
City’s victory arrested a slump that seen them fall from joint-top with Chelsea on New Year’s Day to fourth position. But after Manchester United lost at Stamford Bridge on Saturday the defeat of West Ham means City are only a point behind Louis van Gaal’s third-placed side.
“I think it was very important for our team to win. We come from two defeats in a row and always when one is a derby it is worse,” the manager said of last Sunday’s 4-2 loss at United. “It was important to be a consistent team and we played especially well until the injury to David that was a distraction. We are a consistent team. In other games we play minutes, today I think we played the whole game.”
