Soccer-Jesus is closing in on Man City’s return

Feb 16 (Reuters) – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola confirmed striker Gabriel Jesus will resume first-team training but is unlikely to feature against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup fifth round on Monday.

Jesus has been on the sidelines since suffering knee ligament damage against Crystal Palace on December 31.

The 20-year-old has been a key part of City’s fluid attacking unit in the first half of the campaign, scoring eight goals in 18 league appearances.

“Gabriel Jesus will be in training today… It’s good news,” Guardiola told reporters on Friday.

“I don’t know when he will be ready to play – the first step was to do one or two weeks of training on his own – but today will be his first training session for the team.”

The Spanish manager remains keen to name a strong starting line-up against third-placed Wigan as his players have five days to recover from their 4-0 win over Basel in the Champions League.

“The game in Basel was a winning game, we have six days and until next Sunday (League Cup final against Arsenal) we have another five or six days,” Guardiola added.

“They can recover. When the distance is two or three days after we have to look at the state of the team.”

Wigan beat City in the 2013 FA Cup final before knocking them out in the quarter-finals a year later.

Guardiola said he is wary of his opponents, who have already knocked out two Premier League clubs – Bournemouth and West Ham United – in the competition so far.

“Of course I’m worried… Bournemouth for me are one of the teams I like to watch the most in the Premier League and they managed to beat them,” he said.

“I think in the FA Cup every season there are a lot of surprises. Not just this season and last season, but throughout history. We will prepare as well as we can for this game.” (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; Editing by Clare Lovell)