Pep Guardiola has confirmed that none of the injured Manchester City players are in contention to return against Arsenal.
City head to the Emirates Stadium on Sunday on the back of four wins in five Premier League games and can cut the gap on the Gunners to three points with another victory.
However, Guardiola looks set to choose from almost the same squad that beat Club Brugge on Wednesday night to set up a Champions League knockout play-off round tie against Real Madrid.
“No, we continue the same,” confirmed the City boss when asked in the pre-match press conference if any of his injured players would be available to face Arsenal.
This means the clash in the capital comes too soon for Ruben Dias and Jeremy Doku. The former asked to be replaced during Man City’s 4-2 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League last week, having only recently recovered from a muscle issue.
Doku, meanwhile, sat out the game against PSG as well as wins over Chelsea and Club Brugge but won’t return against the Gunners.
Nathan Ake has missed the last four games across all competitions with a muscle injury, whilst youngster Oscar Bobb is fit again after recovering from a broken leg suffered before the season began.
The 21-year-old, as confirmed by Guardiola, was in contention to return to action in midweek but was ultimately left out of the matchday squad so it remains to be seen if he’s involved at the weekend.
As expected, Rodri misses out as the Spaniard is a long-term absentee with an ACL injury.
Though, Guardiola can call upon City’s January signings Omar Marmoush, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov as they were all ineligible for the Club Brugge game.
