Manchester City have announced that Omar Marmoush will miss Sunday’s Premier League showdown with rivals Manchester United at the Etihad Stadium due to injury.
After featuring in each of City’s opening three Premier League games of the new season, Marmoush was called up to the Egypt squad ahead of 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ethiopia and Burkina Faso this month.
Marmoush scored a penalty in a 2-0 win for Egypt over Ethiopia last Friday, but the forward picked up a knee injury just four minutes into Tuesday’s 0-0 draw with Burkina Faso and eventually hobbled off five minutes later after attempting to carry on.
After the match, the Egyptian FA confirmed that Marmoush has sustained a "knee ligament bruise" and “will undergo an X-ray upon his arrival in Cairo on Wednesday morning."
Man City have since released a statement of their own confirming that Marmoush will miss the 197th instalment of the Manchester derby this weekend.
“Initial results on a scan performed in Egypt indicate he will not be available for the Manchester derby on Sunday, and he will now return to Manchester for more assessment and to begin his rehabilitation,” a statement read. “Everyone at City wishes Omar a speedy recovery.”
? – Omar Marmoush arrives to Egypt pic.twitter.com/RXeFZxKtJR
— Ismael Mahmoud - إسماعيل محمود (@ismaeelmahmoudd) September 10, 2025
Man City sweating over Marmoush fitness ahead of busy fixture schedule
Marmoush’s injury has come at an unfortunate time for Man City, who are preparing to embark on a challenging and busy run of fixtures across multiple competitions.
The severity of Marmoush’s knee injury is currently unknown, but this setback has made him a major doubt for next Thursday’s Champions League clash at home to Napoli and a Premier League trip to title rivals Arsenal on September 21.
Man City will hope that Marmoush has only sustained a heavy knock to the knee or a mild strain to the surrounding ligaments which would likely require between one and three weeks of recovery.
However, a significant sprain or the dreaded tear of the anterior cruciate ligament could require a lengthy spell on the sidelines, the latter may even require surgery before six and 12 months of rehabilitation.
After the aforementioned encounter with Arsenal, Man City will conclude the month of September with an EFL Cup third-round tie at Huddersfield Town and a Premier league home fixture with newly-promoted Burnley.
In the event that Marmoush has not sustained a serious knee injury, he may target a return for one of these fixture or a match in early October, with Man City travelling to Monaco for a Champions League tie on October 1, four days before taking on Brentford in the Premier League.
Guardiola’s side will then play host to Everton on October 18 in their first top-flight fixture after the second international break of the season.
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola on July 1, 2025
Man City’s injury list building up before Manchester derby
Marmoush is the second Man City player to sustain an injury during the international break after defender John Stones, who withdrew from the England squad with a minor muscle problem.
Abdukodir Khusanov pulled out of the Uzbekistan squad after picking up a calf injury in Man City’s 2-1 defeat to Brighton before the international break and, along with Stones, has emerged as a doubt for Sunday.
Josko Gvardiol, Phil Foden, Savinho, Marcus Bettinelli, Rico Lewis and Nico O'Reilly have all been nursing unspecified issues and will be assessed ahead of kickoff, while Rayan Cherki and Mateo Kovacic remain unavailable for selection.
Kovacic is still recovering from Achilles surgery that took place in June, while Cherki is facing up to two months on the sidelines with an unspecified injury confirmed by Guardiola before the international break.
Guardiola is expected to provide a fresh update on the fitness of his Man City squad at a pre-match press conference on Friday.
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