Waiting game on injuries ahead of Liverpool clash – Pep | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says he will find out his squad’s injury status this afternoon ahead of the weekend clash with Liverpool.

City head to Anfield on Sunday for a 16:00 (UK) clash as first host second in the Premier League.

The boss was without Jeremy Doku and John Stones for the UEFA Champions League clash with Feyenoord while Ruben Dias returned to the bench for that 3-3 draw after three matches out.

And the manager said he will find out more about who’s in and who’s out as the players train at the CFA later.

“We’ll see today. Today we will see,” he told media at his pre-match press conference.

Guardiola has had to deal with a plethora of fitness issues so far this season, with Mateo Kovacic, Oscar Bobb and Rodri currently longer-term issues.

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Doku has been absent since the Sporting Libson game in the UEFA Champions League, missing matches with Brighton, Tottenham and Feyenoord.

Stones returned to the side for the home Premier League game with Tottenham but had to be withdrawn at half-time before sitting out UCL clash on Tuesday.

Dias has not featured on the pitch since the 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup back in October. He missed the Bournemouth, Brighton and Tottenham top-flight encounters through injury although he was among the substitutes against Feyenoord earlier this week.

Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake, Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne and Jack Grealish have also spent time on the sidelines in this campaign.

And the manager said a return to fitness for more players in the squad is vital going-forward for the rest of the season.

“What I would ask, not the results, is the players back,” he added.

“That is what I would like. I would just ask the players back to have the team that we create at the beginning of the season to go and do what we are.

“From the beginning of the season, we could not have that. Now I would say it is the situation we had and when the people ask me ‘do you want to win games?’ Yeah. But if you don’t have the players sooner or later we are going to fall down again. And that is what I’m looking for.”