Jack Grealish determined to play a key role in Man City’s Champions League push | OneFootball

Jack Grealish insists he will be ready to fire whenever called upon in Manchester City’s run-in.

The England midfielder marked his first Premier League start since before Christmas with his first goal in the competition since December 2023 in Wednesday’s 2-0 stroll against relegation strugglers Leicester.

It has been a frustrating campaign for the 29-year-old with fitness issues and a lack of form seeing him fall behind Savinho and Jeremy Doku in manager Pep Guardiola’s pecking order. He was also overlooked by new England boss Thomas Tuchel last month.

Yet, featuring alongside Savinho and Doku, Grealish impressed in a central role as the champions made light work of the Foxes at the Etihad Stadium and opened the scoring after just two minutes.

Grealish said: “I think it was actually the same last year – I didn’t go in the national team in March, then I played a lot, at (Crystal) Palace and Real Madrid home and away. I ended up playing a lot in April.

“At the moment it’s difficult because we have so many players, especially in the attacking areas, and I think every single one of us is fit, apart from Erling (Haaland).

“It’s going to be difficult, but I’m ready when called upon.”

It was a poignant night for Grealish with the date marking the 25th anniversary of the death of his younger brother Keelan, who died at the age of just nine months from sudden infant death syndrome.

His family were in the crowd and Grealish later dedicated his goal to Keelan.

The strike effectively ended the game as a contest, even at such an early stage, as Leicester meekly surrendered to a seventh successive loss in which they have not even scored a goal.

Omar Marmoush added the second in the 29th minute after a goalkeeping error by Mads Hermansen.

Despite City’s victory, the battle for Champions League places remains tight with several teams – including Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa – all chasing the fourth and potentially fifth qualification spots behind the top three of Liverpool, Arsenal and Nottingham Forest.

City therefore feel they have little margin for error heading into Sunday’s derby against Manchester United at Old Trafford.

“They beat us here early on in the season and that was a real difficult one to take,” said Grealish.

“But we’re going there on the back of two wins and with a lot of confidence. Fingers crossed, we can make our fans happy.”

Leicester are 12 points adrift of safety with just eight games to play and manager Ruud van Nistelrooy is well aware of how bleak the situation looks.

He said: “In an extremely difficult moment we’re all in there together. I expect myself to be the first one to react in a good way to keep working, doing the best I can with the people around me.

“It has something to do with your personal pride and honour by doing the job as good as you can in any circumstance. That is my drive and how I get up every morning.”