Edin Dzeko could be out for up to three weeks with a “very serious calf injury”, meaning the Manchester City striker may miss three matches for the champions and not play until next month.
City are enduring a wobble in form that has left Manuel Pellegrini’s team having won only once in their last six matches and Dzeko’s absence would leave the manager with just two forwards, Sergio Agüero and Stevan Jovetic.
Dzeko lasted four minutes of City’s 2-2 draw at Queens Park Rangers on Saturday after suffering the problem, having entered the match just past the hour as a replacement. With Bosnia and Herzegovina due to play Israel in Sunday’s Euro 2016 qualifier, the striker’s national team doctor, Reuf Karabeg, stated he may miss three weeks and told the federation’s website: “It’s a very serious injury and requires the kind of treatment whose time-frame unfortunately rules out a quick return.”
Dzeko said: “I am extremely disappointed with the news that I will miss this match but I have faith in my team mates and believe that they have it in them to get a result.”
If it is as serious as first thought, Dzeko seems certain to miss the visits of Swansea City and Bayern Munich – the latter in the Champions League – and possibly the trip to Southampton on 30 November, meaning the 28-year-old would not return until the following Wednesday, when City are at Sunderland.
Dzeko’s club captain, Vincent Kompany, may be available for Belgium’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Wales on Sunday, with his calf injury being evaluated on a day-to-day basis.
Marc Wilmots, the Belgium head coach, said: “Kompany stays in Manchester until Wednesday. He has a little strain in his calf from two to three millimetres. He’ll undergo a new scan on Monday.”
Kompany suffered the injury during City’s 2-1 defeat to CSKA Moscow last week in the Champions League. It is the central defender’s second calf problem this season to make a total of eight different injuries to this part of his body since joining City, so there will be concern that he is not rushed back too early.
