Due to an injury, John Stones will not go with Manchester City to Chelsea this weekend, according to Pep Guardiola.
However, there was good news with Manuel Akanji, who despite being a midweek injury concern, trained on Friday.
In Manchester City’s 3-0 victory over Young Boys, Stones was substituted at the half. Akanji was originally listed in the starting lineup, but Kyle Walker took his place in the final seconds. When questioned about the two players at his news conference after the game, Guardiola stated that they had sustained injuries of differing degrees of severity.
The City manager gave an update during his press conference prior to Sunday’s trip to Chelsea.
On Stones, Guardiola said: “He’s injured. He’s not ready for Chelsea and we’ll see after the international break. I don’t know [if ready for Liverpool].
Upon being further quizzed on the doctors’ initial assessment of John Stones’ latest setback, Pep Guardiola responded with a somewhat promising development, as he continued, “No, the doctor said to me it’s not as bad (as first thought), but I don’t know. When he’s going to be fit again, he’ll come back.”
“The partnership with Rodri has been one of the key points for us but this season we can’t use it much. We have to reflect and be consistent.”
On Akanji , he added: “Good. Trained today and trained good.”
Stones’ injury is a major concern. The ex-Everton man missed 11 of City’s first 12 matches of the season with a hip injury and speaking separately to TNT Sport, Guardiola implied it was the same issue, as he said the defender ‘felt it again’.
The injuries to Stones leave City with a shortage of defenders for Sunday’s trip to Chelsea. Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Josko Gvardiol are the obvious options to start in a back four, although Rico Lewis offers an alternative.
