Matheus Nunes and Manchester City wingers could start in DEFENCE against Manchester United says Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has suggested that he may look towards his more offensive players as solutions for his struggling Manchester City defence this weekend.

The Premier League champions are in desperate need of improved form across all competitions after a 2-0 defeat to Juventus in midweek made it just one win in the last 10 matches for Manchester City.

That result also meant that City’s hopes of an automatic qualification place for the Champions League last-16 are all-but over barring a dramatic turn of events, and also means that need to take points from their remaining two games to get a play-off place.

Focus now turns back to the Premier League however, and the stern test of Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United, with Pep Guardiola having to battle a heavily depleted defensive unit with Rico Lewis’ suspension adding to injury woes.

Speaking on the possibility of only having three senior defenders fit and available for the challenge of Manchester United on Sunday afternoon, Pep Guardiola told reporters of the possibility that Matheus Nunes and other forwards could feature as full-backs.

“I don’t know what to do! I need players, we will see what happens today and tomorrow, and the players we have and we will see about it,” the Manchester City manager admitted.

“Maybe some wingers have to play as a full-back, or Matheus (Nunes) maybe can play as a full-back, or maybe play with five-at-the-back with wing-backs as wingers. I don’t know,” he continuted.

“I’m thinking what to do for the situation that we have just three defenders. But the soul and the spirit of this team is there.”

Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji are both moving closer towards being ruled out for the weekend’s visit of Manchester United, with the former expected to be out for ‘weeks’ through a suspected muscular problem.

As for the Switzerland international defender, Akanji is suffering from a pelvic and adductor problem, with John Stones battling a foot issue that has been hampering his ongoing season since its restart in August.