Antoine Semenyo’s injury and Manchester City’s first wobble of the season
When Antoine Semenyo limped off at the Etihad on 17 October, Manchester City had won every Premier League game of the season. Since then they have lost both their league games.
The Ghana forward hurt his knee in the 3-2 win over Ipswich Town, minutes after coming on as a substitute for Jérémy Doku. A scan brought some relief. “After the scan we feel much better because it’s not as bad as we expected,” City manager Enzo Maresca told reporters, ESPN reported. “It could be eight weeks, so now the most important thing is for him to recover.”
From Bristol to the Etihad
Semenyo’s rise has been steady rather than sudden. He spent his early career at Bristol City in England’s second tier before joining Bournemouth, where he spent two and a half seasons. By January this year he had scored 10 Premier League goals that season, the third-highest total in the league at the time, Al Jazeera reported.
That form persuaded City to pay a reported £65 million (about $87 million) for him in January, on a contract to 2031. “My best football is yet to come, I am sure of that,” he said on signing.
This season he had made a “fairly positive start”, in Sports Mole’s words, scoring twice and setting up another goal in a 5-3 win over Sunderland in September. He can play on either wing, which gives Maresca options in attack.
City since the injury
- 17 Oct, Premier League: Man City 3-2 Ipswich. Semenyo injured.
- 20 Oct, Champions League: Man City 5-1 AEK Athens.
- 24 Oct, Premier League: Aston Villa 2-1 Man City.
- 28 Oct, League Cup: Man City 2-2 Brighton. City won 4-3 on penalties to reach the quarter-finals.
- 31 Oct, Premier League: Man City 0-1 Brighton.
- 4 Nov, Champions League: RB Leipzig 2-3 Man City.
Before the injury City had won all seven league games and scored 19 goals. In the two league games since, they have scored once. They are second in the table on 21 points, three behind Arsenal, with Brighton two points further back.
How much is down to Semenyo?
It would be too simple to pin the slump on one player. Semenyo came off the bench against Ipswich, and City’s league defeats owed as much to their defending. After the Brighton loss, where Yasin Ayari scored after a miscued clearance, Maresca said his side were “conceding silly goals and we can avoid that”, Citizen Digital reported.
What City have lost is a direct winger, able to play on either side, who can stretch defences when games are tight. Both league defeats came by a single goal, the kind of matches where a fresh attacker from the bench can make the difference. Away from the league, City have kept winning: they came from behind twice against Brighton in the League Cup before backup goalkeeper Gerónimo Rulli saved two penalties in the shootout, AP reported; Phil Foden scored a hat-trick against AEK; and Haaland’s late goal beat Leipzig on Wednesday, ESPN reported.
A blow for Ghana too
The injury also hurts the Black Stars. Semenyo missed Ghana’s two September qualifiers for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, both lost, and will now miss the double-header against Somalia this month. Ghana are bottom of Group C under an interim coach, Kim Lars Björkegren, after Carlos Queiroz’s departure, Graphic Online reported.
When will he be back?
On Maresca’s eight-week estimate, Semenyo would return in mid-December. Sports Mole lists at least 13 games he could miss across three competitions, including Nottingham Forest on Saturday and Arsenal away on 29 November. A return for the Champions League trip to Barcelona on 8 December has not been ruled out.
Correction, 5 November: An earlier version of this story said Manchester City had been knocked out of the League Cup by Brighton. City drew 2-2 and won 4-3 on penalties on 28 October to reach the quarter-finals.
Sources: ESPN, 19 October; Sports Mole, 19 October; Graphic Online, 19 October; Al Jazeera, 9 January; ESPN, Man City 5-1 AEK Athens, 20 October; Citizen Digital, 1 November; ESPN, RB Leipzig 2-3 Man City, 4 November; AP via ClickOrlando, 28 October; Premier League results and table via Sportradar.
Top photo: Antoine Semenyo (in yellow, number 11) chases England’s Ezri Konsa at the 2026 World Cup on 23 June (file photo). Photo: Bryan Berlin, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
