When it rains it pours and Pep Guardiola must be feeling quite blue this morning after potentially losing yet another player to injury.
Manchester City have a massive match-up as they return to action on Sunday against Arsenal. A game that could determine the Premier League title race.
Pep Guardiola will already be sweating on the fitness of Kevin De Bruyne, Ederson and Jack Grealish, who all had fitness issues before the international break.
But now the Blues boss has to worry about four more players who have picked up knocks on international duty and could be doubts to face the Gunners.
Man City injury latest ahead of Arsenal Premier League fixture
John Stones became the latest and most worrying concern after he hobbled off during England’s draw with Belgium on Tuesday night after just 10 minutes.
Kyle Walker lasted just double that against Brazil when he limped off the field after feeling ‘tightness’ and Manuel Akanji completes the trio of injured defenders after he missed Switzerland’s win over the Republic of Ireland.
Matheus Nunes was the fourth causality after he sat out of Portugal’s defeat to Slovenia but it’s the back-line where City have been hit hardest.
If Walker, Stones and Akanji are all unavailable, Guardiola will be without three of his most important defenders and be down to the bare bones when Arsenal come to town.
Pep Guardiola could be forced to play unfancied defender against Arsenal
It initially seemed like the international break had come at a perfect time to give City a much-needed reprieve from an intense battle on three different fronts.
It would give De Bruyne, Grealish and Ederson time to recover without missing any big games and refresh the squad ahead of a crucial match.
That might still have happened but it’s come at a cost.
If all four players are unavailable – and Guardiola should shine some light in his press conference on Friday – then City could be in trouble.
The manager will be down to just five available defenders but one of those is Sergio Gomez, who can’t really be counted given his complete lack of involvement.
Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake and Josko Gvardiol should all be fit to make up a strong back-four but the right-back slot will have to go to Rico Lewis.
That doesn’t look bad on paper at all as the 19-year-old has already proven to be a quality player more than capable in the first team.
But he hasn’t been fancied much by Guardiola this year, making just four appearances so far in 2024. The same amount as Gomez, in fact.
It’s clear the versatile defender hasn’t been fancied as much in the business end of the season and may well be rusty after such little action. A worrying development for such an important game.
Hopefully, if he has to play, Lewis’ quality shines through otherwise he might prove costly.