Man City take on Wolves in the Premier League before the international break kicks in and Pep Guardiola is going to be without three first-team players for this game.
Defenders Aymeric Laporte and Kyle Walker are both recovering from injuries and the manager has hinted that neither of them should be fully fit before they travel to the Molineux Stadium.
The other player who is a question mark is summer signing Kalvin Phillips who did return in midweek but the Man City boss feels he might not be ready to replace Rodri in midfield.
“Aymeric (Laporte) is back in training but is not ready,” said Guardiola, in his pre-match press conference.
“Kyle (Walker) is getting better but I am not sure if tomorrow he will be ready. We will see in training this afternoon. (On Kalvin Phillips) [he is] a little better.”
✅ Kalvin Phillips started the Euro 2020 final
✅ Harry Maguire started the Euro 2020 final
✅ Luke Shaw scored in the Euro 2020 final🥵 Now those three are among the worst rated England internationals this season! They should be worried ahead of the 2022 World Cup 👇
— WhoScored.com (@WhoScored) September 15, 2022
Will the Man City boss be worried about all these injuries?
Aymeric Laporte and Phillips have hardly played for Man City this season so their absence will not make much of a difference to Pep Guardiola.
The City boss has the likes of Akanji, Stones, Ake and Ruben Dias who can very easily fill Laporte’s void whereas Phillips hasn’t even come close to replacing Rodri so far.
The ex-Leeds man had high hopes when he moved to the Etihad in the summer but so far, he’s played only a single minute in the Premier League.
However, the absence of Walker is going to be a bit of an issue for the manager because the England international has been really important for Manchester City down the right-hand side.
If he’s not available then Stones is likely to be the one who will play as the right-back and while this is a confident selection but John Stones is not a natural full-back so there’s always a slight bit of worry.
