Without kicking a ball, Ederson’s injury against Newcastle United gave Liverpool a bit of luck in the Premier League title fight.
The Reds’ chances of winning a fourth straight championship may suffer by the Brazilian’s absence, even though they are not scheduled to play Pep Guardiola’s team until March 9. Since moving to the Etihad in 2017, Ederson has been a key member of City, participating in 96% of their league games.
The 30-year-old won five Premier League titles and won the game in the previous season’s Champions League final. However, Guardiola must now endure a torturous wait to find out how long he will be without his preferred goalie.
A few minutes into City’s journey to St. James’ Park, Ederson and teammate Kyle Walker got into a brawl after Sean Longstaff scored an own goal that was called back. The goaltender attempted to continue the fight, but he withdrew shortly after while clutching his knee.
Stefan Ortega, a backup keeper who played in City’s FA Cup victory over Huddersfield Town one week prior, had to be brought on. The German played just once in the league this season, in October’s 2-1 victory against Brighton.
On social media, Man City supporters were incensed because they believed referee Chris Kavanagh ought to have called an offside earlier in the sequence leading up to Newcastle’s goal that was disallowed. “That’s both (John) Stones and now Ederson injured now because of a stupid offside ‘let them play on’ rule,” a supporter wrote on social media.
A second reply said, “Bloody hell.” I hope Ederson is only knocking and will be back shortly. I should have raised the alarm sooner.