City wait on Silva injury news

19 April 2015 22:17

Manchester City playmaker David Silva was taken to hospital after suffering suspected cheekbone and collarbone injuries in his side's 2-0 victory over West Ham.

The Spaniard was carried off on a stretcher after being caught by the elbow of West Ham's Cheikhou Kouyate and landing awkwardly in the Barclays Premier League clash at the Etihad Stadium.

The 29-year-old received around eight minutes of treatment on the pitch before being carefully lifted off and taken to hospital for further examination.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini said: "At this moment he is in hospital and they are checking if he has a broken bone in his cheek.

"It looked serious but we must wait (to see) what happens at the hospital."

The club confirmed Silva's collarbone was also being checked.

Kouyate was booked by referee Anthony Taylor for the challenge, which occurred in the 67th minute, meaning the incident cannot be subjected to retrospective action.

Pellegrini expressed hope that Kouyate had not acted deliberately.

He said: "I always think that a player doesn't want to damage another player. The referee was so near and he decided he was unintentional. Nothing more happens."

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce leapt to the defence of his Senegalese midfielder, insisting the incident was entirely accidental.

Asked for his opinion on the incident, Allardyce said: "Accidental. It was pretty innocuous. I didn't think it was a foul.

"I've just had a look now because everybody is talking about it. Everybody thinks it is a more serious attack from Cheikhou than it was. It doesn't look deliberate at all to me."

Allardyce was also asked if he had spoken to Kouyate about the challenge.

He said: "No. Why would I talk to him? He has no idea, it has happened from behind him. He doesn't think he has done anything. You can see that reaction on the video on the laptop when you look at it."

The game itself was routine, aside from the bizarre nature of City's opener - a freak own goal from James Collins.

The Hammers defender managed to lob his own keeper Adrian attempting to intercept a Jesus Navas pass and the ball dropped in off bar and post. Sergio Aguero then made it 2-0 with his 26th goal of the season before half-time after Stewart Downing lost possession to Yaya Toure.

Allardyce, whose side have won just once in 11 league outings, said: "The disappointing thing firstly was the goals were gifted to Manchester City and, secondly, the amount of possession we allowed ourselves to lose.

"The two mistakes we made for the goals, one was pretty bizarre and the other unexpected from a player as experienced as Stewart Downing.

"We had the resilience and determination to try to fight back and in the second half, eventually changing the system got us back playing better going forward.

"We created good chances for Kevin Nolan and Enner Valencia but you have got to convert them."

For City the result and the three points were very much welcome after six defeats in the previous eight matches.

That poor run culminated in last week's demoralising derby loss at Manchester United but victory lifted them back within a point of their neighbours.

Pellegrini said: "It was not depending on what Manchester United did yesterday - I think it was very important for our team to win.

"We came from two defeats in a row and always when one is a derby it is worse. It was important to be a consistent team and we played especially, for the first 65 minutes until the injury of David that was a distraction, as a consistent team.

"In other games we have played some minutes but today I think we played the whole game."

Pellegrini offered no comment to remarks from Yaya Toure's agent referring to him as a "weak manager".

Source: PA