Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says his side have a huge injury crisis heading into the weekend.
Guardiola opted to play a lot of his academy products in Manchester City’s 2-1 defeat to Tottenham in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday but could still not escape more injury concerns.
Manuel Akanji picked up a knock in the warm-up and winger Savinho had to be stretchered off after going down holding his foot.
The Spanish boss looked concerned on the sideline and now admits his side are in trouble ahead of a busy upcoming schedule with only a handful of players available for training on Thursday.
Troubles For Guardiola
Speaking after the Spurs loss, Guardiola said: “When you have this situation with all the squad is fine but…
“Tomorrow we have two keepers and Erling Haaland for a training session and we don’t have anything else.
“We are 13 players.
“We are in real difficulty but we have to make the effort.
“The guys who played, most finished with problems and we will see how they recover.
“I think when we are in trouble like we are – because in nine years I have never had this many injuries for this many reasons – in these situations, the players make a step forward, they are more together than ever and we will try to do this week in a short time for recovery.
More Trouble
“[Savinho] had a knock in the 18-yard box for a potential penalty and we will see tomorrow what happened.
“We have to see just a knock, or maybe something else.
“It was in the bone.
“Hopefully it is nothing dangerous but we will see tomorrow.
“Akanji yesterday in the last action felt something muscular in the meniscus and today in the warm-up he didn’t feel good.
“He said he could take a risk but I said no.
“Ruben [Dias] is struggling sometimes as well.
“It’s been getting more difficult game by game but maybe one day we will be all together.”
City have had to tap into their squad depth to continue their impressive start to the 2024-25 campaign but the defeat in north London may give others more confidence when coming up against the Premier League champions.
Guardiola and Co have had to forge last-minute winners on plenty of occasions so far but may have stretched their luck as far as it can go with the quality they can turn to from the bench.
Read more: Guardiola Says Man City Were ‘Hungover’ In FA Cup Final Loss
City head down to the South Coast on Saturday to face Bournemouth in the Premier League.
Following Arsenal’s 2-2 draw with Liverpool last weekend, City know a win will keep them at the top of the table.
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