Pep Guardiola confirms that key player will miss crucial title clash
Pep Guardiola has revealed that John Stones will miss his side’s crucial title clash with Arsenal on Sunday afternoon.
Manchester City travel to the Emirates this weekend where they will hope to keep their incredible Premier League winning run alive, as they face off against Arsenal.
The Gunners have failed to beat the Cityzens in their last 12 league meetings, losing every single encounter but will feel a bit more optimistic than usual this time around.
Guardiola who is already without Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne, has revealed in his Friday press conference that Stones is ‘not ready to play.’
“John Stones is not ready to play. Maybe for the national team but not for us,” he said via the Manchester Evening News.
“We start to talk today with my staff to analyse tomorrow morning, we have to prepare the game. With Rodri, we are talking one of the best – maybe the best – holding midfielders in the world so it is normal. If he is not [able to play], we always handle it over many years.
“We find a solution with our players, the way we are going to press and what they can do.”
The English defender has not played since the Community Shield loss in August and only recently returned to training at the start of this week. Although he has been ruled out of this weekend’s clash, Gareth Southgate named him in his squad for the upcoming international fixtures.
Arsenal is also not without their own injury issues both Bukayo Saka and Thomas Partey may miss out on a starting place, alongside Gabriel Martinelli, who has not resumed training yet.
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