Jack Grealish injury hint dropped as Man City wait following Pep Guardiola advice

Jack Grealish appears to have returned to England training immediately despite being left out of Lee Carsley's Nations League squad for the Thursday night defeat to Greece. Having picked up an injury whilst away with the Three Lions, he was dealt with cautiously.

England toiled without Grealish, who impressed during the September international break after being reinstated into the team, and went down shock 2-1 losers. Even without the Manchester City attacker, it was a front-foot selection by Carsley, who fielded all of Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Jude Bellingham, Phil Foden, and Anthony Gordon from the start at Wembley.

The plan backfired, though, with England lacking a focal point or any sort of fluidity on the ball. When they lost it, Greece countered quickly in the space left by only Declan Rice picked as a nominal midfielder.

READ MORE: Man City reach deal with new sporting director to succeed Txiki Begiristain

READ MORE: Man City stance, FIFA rule change, Saudi interest - De Bruyne future latest

Grealish had to watch on from the sidelines. He suffered a blow after arriving at the Burton-based training camp earlier in the week. "We'll assess Jack later," Carsley said before the game.

"Our attitude would be we wouldn't gamble with any of the players. It's important we put them first rather than ourselves. They will be okay in a couple of days, so we are not going to take any gambles with them."

Luckily for Guardiola, who not only saw his player treated with precaution, Grealish seems to be raring to go already. In a post online on Friday, England showed Grealish in training. Also pictured are Harry Kane, Marc Guehi, and Kyle Walker. None of the quartet featured against Greece.

England are next in action on Sunday evening away to Finland. It comes an entire week before City travel to Wolves in the Premier League, offering plenty of time to recover for those who do play.

The reigning champions lost this fixture last year and will be keen to put in a better performance than the one which earned a win against Fulham before the break. For Guardiola, Grealish is likely to be called on if fit.

The 29-year-old has played in all but one match across competitions so far this season, starting six of a possible nine. Other than the opening day win at Chelsea - in which he had entered as an injury doubt anyway - he has featured at least as a substitute in the rest.

Despite the risk posed by playing during the international break - as City themselves are well aware of, just like title rivals Arsenal - Guardiola has advised his squad to keep accepting the call ups.