City v Villa: Guardiola provides update on Aguero and Laporte | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has revealed that both Sergio Aguero and Aymeric Laporte will be unavailable for Wednesday’s Premier League game at home to Aston Villa.

Aguero has missed City’s last three matches after being forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone tested positive for COVID-19.

Central defender Laporte meanwhile has also been sidelined through injury for the past couple of weeks though the boss did reveal he was back in training.

Addressing the media at his pre-match press conference, the City boss confirmed that the duo would not be able to figure in his selection plans against Villa but added that Laporte could be in contention for Saturday's FA Cup fourth round tie at Cheltenham.

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“Sergio is not ready for tomorrow. He is still isolating,” the boss revealed. “I don’t know (for how long.)

“Aymeric is at the last step. He is not ready for tomorrow, but he is training with us.

“Yesterday was the first one, today was the second.

"Hopefully (he will be available for the weekend). That would be good news. We need him. We cannot play with just Stones and Ruben. We need Nathan, Eric. We need Laporte."

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Villa will be returning to action after their entire first team was squad was forced into self-isolation following a COVID-19 outbreak at their first team training HQ.

That led to the postponement of Vila’s last two Premier League games against Everton and Spurs.

A victory could send City top of the table tomorrow night, but the boss insisted that his only focus was on the challenge provided by Dean Smith’s team.

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And despite the COVID-19 issues, he expected the toughest possible examination.

“We expect the best. I don’t know the situation,” Guardiola added.

“I wish they are healthy and have recovered well. This is the most important thing. We expect the best. It depends on us.

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“The only concern is Aston Villa right now. We don’t know who will be available, right now, we will see tomorrow in the line-up. The performance is the only concerns.

“In this league you can win five games in a row and then lose three in a row. The most important thing is Aston Villa.

"They bought Watkins. Their holding midfielders are fantastic, Barkley, they provide a lot of quality. They provide a lot of quality in the box with Grealish and El Ghazi.

"They are not suffering at the bottom of the league, they will be in the Premier League again."

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