Man City will take on Manchester United in the FA Cup final next weekend and Pep Guardiola has several players who are recovering from niggling injuries.
Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish and De Bruyne all missed the Brentford game and after the match, Guardiola has revealed that these players either have small injuries or are supremely exhausted.
The Manchester City manager has also made it clear that the injuries are not very serious and they should be fit before the FA Cup final.
“We have four or five players with niggles, not big injuries, but they are injuries,” said Guardiola, as quoted by the club’s official website.
“The guys who didn’t play didn’t here were really, really exhausted the day before and mentally, they were completely drained.
“The guys who are in Manchester – Ruben didn’t train for 10 days, Jack Grealish, as well.
“After the game against Brighton, Kevin felt the same feelings that he had before, weeks ago when he could not play a few games. It is what it is.
“It’s not a big issue, I think they will be ready. They have to be ready for the training sessions and I am going to see them in three days and that’s why today was so important to see these players and how they are.
“Wednesday they will train and recover tomorrow. Hopefully (they will be OK), but right now, I don’t know.”
Man City also have to play in the Champions League final so Pep will have one eye on that match as well but all these four players should be named in the starting XI at Wembley.
Winning the UCL is very important for Guardiola but Man City also have the chance of securing an elusive treble and they won’t let this opportunity slip.
The Brentford match was of no consequence so Pep really did not want to risk these four players. Grealish, KDB, Dias and Akanji have played 115 Premier League matches between them this season and with the league title already wrapped up, there was no point putting them on the pitch on Sunday.
Phil Foden, Alvarez and Laporte got starts against the Bees but against Manchester United these three will promptly move back to the bench.
