Speaking before his team takes on Tottenham at the Etihad Stadium tomorrow, Pep Guardiola has provided an injury update on his squad. The world champions went into the international break with a host of players battling injury concerns. Pep Guardiola has explained the injury situation surrounding his squad and it is mixed news for Manchester City ahead of their crucial Premier League fixture tomorrow.
First the positive news for Manchester City. Pep Guardiola confirmed that a host of Manchester City defenders are available for tomorrow’s match. John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji are all back training and available for tomorrow’s match. Ruben Dias is the only centre-back unavailable for tomorrow’s match. When asked about the status of his defenders Guardiola told the media: “John [Stones] trained good, Manu [Akanji] trained good. Nathan [Ake] is coming back to training so we didn’t have any centre-backs, and now we have three. Ruben [Dias] is out but hopefully back soon.”
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The bad news for Manchester City is the news that Mateo Kovacic is set for a stint on the sidelines. Kovacic has been one of Manchester City’s best players so far this season. The Croatian international was substituted at half-time of Croatia’s Nations League clash with Portugal. Pep Guardiola revealed today that Kovacic could sidelined for a month. He revealed: “It will be a while [until he’s back]. Three weeks or a month.”
The return of John Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake is a positive update for the world champions. Manchester City have missed their presence during their four-game losing run.
But the loss of Mateo Kovacic is a massive blow for Pep Guardiola and his team. It will be interesting to see how Guardiola covers the loss of the Croatian international given how important he has been to City in Rodri’s absence. It will be interesting to see how Guardiola covers the loss of Kovacic when the starting lineups are announced tomorrow.
