Pep Guardiola will be without a few big names when Manchester City lock horns with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge this weekend.
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that two key players will miss Manchester City’s clash against Chelsea. The Citizens will hope to narrow Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League when they lock horns with Liam Rosenior’s side at Stamford Bridge on Sunday evening.
The Gunners are currently nine points clear, but they’re yet to take on Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. Arsenal will face Bournemouth at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday afternoon, so they could extend their advantage in the title race to 12 points before Guardiola’s side even faces the Blues.
Although Manchester City may fancy their chances against Chelsea, having not lost at Stamford Bridge since June 2020, they’re set to be without some big names. Ruben Dias and John Stones were left out of the matchday squad when the Citizens faced Liverpool in the FA Cup last weekend.
Meanwhile, Josko Gvardiol has been out since January after suffering a a tibial fracture to his right leg. Speaking to reporters ahead of the visit to west London, Guardiola provided an update on Dias, who’s been nursing a muscle injury.
FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE! Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page
“He’s getting better. He’s not ready for Sunday,” said the Spaniard. On Stones, Guardiola said: “Today maybe he will do partial training, we’ll see.”
And on Gvardiol, he said: “He’s getting better, but still he isn’t close.”
Sky Sports, HBO Max, Netflix and Disney+ with Ultimate TV package
Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.
Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.
Guardiola did, however, announce that Mateo Kovacic could finally return to action. The former Chelsea midfielder has only featured twice this season, having suffered an ankle injury in October.
“He’s fine,” said the Manchester City boss, who later previewed the end-of-season run-in. “Hopefully we can get a lot of points. The situation we are in in the Premier League, we need to get all of them otherwise it will not give us a chance to try until the end.
“We need to get a lot of points. We have not been consistent enough in the season. We have dropped points that we should have taken which is why we are now in the position where we cannot do it differently.”
Meanwhile, at Cobham training ground, Rosenior backed Chelsea to dent Manchester City’s title hopes. The Blues boss said: “Yes, three points. That takes us closer to our objective, which right now is to qualify for the Champions League.
“That’s all we can focus on. We have teams who fight relegation, teams who are in mid-table, teams who are pushing at the top end of the league.
“It doesn’t matter because every game is so difficult in this league. And we know it’s going to be a big challenge on Sunday, but one that we’re looking forward to.”
On whether Chelsea can beat Guardiola’s side, Rosenior said: “Of course. Of course we can. We’re a very good team. We’ve gone through a difficult run, even though in that run we were punished for mistakes.
“There were good moments. When I actually analysed the games that we’ve had, we’ve caused every team we’ve played against problems, but haven’t had the results for that.
“We need to make sure that we keep the back door shut. We need to not switch off. We need to not make mistakes because Manchester City will punish you. But I still want us to go out and play our game.”
