Man City face Everton on Sunday in the Premier League and Pep Guardiola’s side are likely to be without three key players for this encounter.
The manager has confirmed that Kevin De Bruyne is ruled out after testing positive for COVID while Jack Grealish is also not going to recover in time from his injury.
Apart from this, young Phil Foden also remains a doubt as the England international will have to go through a late fitness test on Sunday.
“Jack is getting better after he went to the national team,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference.
“Phil Foden came back with a knock and a problem with his leg, but he is getting better and, unfortunately, Kevin got positive from COVID in Belgium and will be isolating for 10 days.
“Jack, I don’t think [will be available]. Phil, we will see.”
KDB 😷
Jack Grealish ❌
Phil Foden ⏳Injury update from Pep 👇 #mcfc pic.twitter.com/sjaSNGFGAi
— Manchester City News (@ManCityMEN) November 20, 2021
Will Man City badly miss these three players on Sunday?
Grealish, Foden and Kevin De Bruyne have been regular starters for Man City this season so obviously of them missing out together will create a bit of an imbalance in the side.
But Pep Guardiola has the proper backups at his disposal plus since Everton are in really poor form, we don’t see this injury crisis as a major cause of concern for the manager.
Grealish’s absence will help Raheem Sterling come back into the side – on the left-hand side and if Phil Foden eventually misses out then Gabriel Jesus is likely to play in the centre-forward’s role.
De Bruyne picking up COVID means Bernardo Silva will move back into midfield which will then allow Riyad Mahrez to play as the right-winger.
Testing positive means De Bruyne will be out of action for the next one and a half weeks but both Jack Grealish and Phil Foden should be fit to face PSG in midweek which means Guardiola has no real reason to sweat at this moment.