Manchester City’s woes heading into Sunday’s derby against Manchester United have only been heightened by the knee injury Omar Marmoush sustained while on international duty.

Egypt’s World Cup qualifier with Burkina Faso was not even five minutes old by the time Marmoush found himself on the end of a crunching tackle. The versatile forward tried to carry on for as long as he could but was eventually forced off in the ninth minute.

The Egyptian Football Association revealed that Marmoush had suffered a “bruised knee ligament.” The 26-year-old was later pictured on crutches while wearing a brace.

It’s not yet clear the severity of the damage, although there are understandably doubts regarding his involvement in this weekend’s derby. City host United on Sunday in a fixture which takes on even greater importance than local bragging rights.

Pep Guardiola’s side have endured a wretched start to the campaign. For the first time in the Catalan coach’s illustrious managerial history, he has seen his side lose two of their opening three league games. After a 4–0 stroll against relegation candidates Wolverhampton Wanderers on the first weekend, City were convincingly dispatched by Tottenham Hotspur before giving up a first-half lead against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Marmoush began the victory over Wolves on the bench before featuring in the starting XI for the consecutive defeats. The January recruit from Eintracht Frankfurt made a fine start to life in a new country, racking up seven Premier League goals in 14 starts. Over the same time span, Erling Haaland scored just five times.

All seven of Marmoush’s league goals have come at the Etihad Stadium, which will serve as the venue for what is already gearing up to be an mightily important derby.

City sit below United in the embryonic league table yet the Red Devils are never far from crisis. It took a stoppage-time penalty against Burnley to secure the first win of a season which has already seen Ruben Amorim openly muse about the prospect of quitting.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Man City Suffer Major Injury Blow Ahead of Manchester Derby.