Manchester City winger, David Silva, was stretchered off the pitch in a neck brace and given oxygen after taking an elbow to the face from West Ham United’s Cheikhou Kouyate and could possibly undergo surgery for a fractured cheekbone.
In the 67th minute of Sunday afternoon’s win, Silva and Kouyate where involved in a tussle while chasing down a loose ball, with the Senegalese midfielder unintentionally catching Silva with his elbow and the Spanish international immediately falling to the ground in pain.
Silva was then attended to by the medical staff, who worried that the injury could be serious and opted to put the Canary Islander in a neck brace and give him oxygen to assist in breathing as he’d suffered a possible broken cheekbone.
Silva is now in hospital with Manuel Pellegrini confirming that they are doing tests to determine if surgery is required.
Pellegrini said: “At this moment he (David Silva) is in hospital and they are checking if he has a broken bone in his cheek.
“I always think that a player doesn’t want to damage another player, the ref decided it was unintentional and I also think that.”
Manchester City are virtually out of the Premier League title race and look to be without Silva for the next week or two, depending on the extent of the injury, which couldn’t come at a worse time for the Sky Blues.