Evening Standard
·23 November 2024
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·23 November 2024
Fitness crisis starts to ease for champions but Pep Guardiola’s bad luck continues
Manchester City midfielder Mateo Kovacic has been ruled out for up to a month in a fresh injury blow ahead of tonight’s visit of Tottenham.
Kovacic picked up an injury on international duty with Croatia and will miss Saturday’s home Premier League match.
Guardiola explained on Friday: “Kovacic is injured. It will be a while. Three weeks or one month, more or less.”
In more positive news, the City head coach revealed that some players injured before the international break have now returned to first-team action.
“Some of them, yes,” he said. “John [Stones] trained good yesterday, Manu [Akanji] trained good yesterday, Nathan [Ake] is coming back to training. We didn’t have central defenders. Now we have three. Just Ruben [Dias] is out, but hopefully he’s coming back soon.
“I don’t know if they are ready to play 90 minutes or play from the beginning, but to see their faces is a really good boost for all of us.”
Big boost: Kevin De Bruyne and John Stones are among those back in training for Manchester City
Getty Images
Kevin De Bruyne has been back in training too, though it remains to be seen if he will be risked from the start against Tottenham. Oscar Bobb and Rodri are long-term absentees.
Predicted Man City (4-3-3): Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Gvardiol, Lewis; Stones, Gundogan, Silva; Foden, Haaland, Savinho
Injured: Rodri, Bobb, Dias, Kovacic
Time and date: 5.30pm GMT on Saturday November 23, 2024
Venue: Etihad Stadium, Manchester
TV channel and live stream: Sky Sports