Pep Guardiola confirms Man City injury blow ahead of Champions League decider and Arsenal clash
Pep Guardiola has confirmed Jeremy Doku will miss Manchester City’s Champions League decider and is an injury doubt for the Premier League clash against Arsenal.
Doku, who arrived at the Etihad Stadium in the summer of 2023 in a £55m move from Rennes, missed City’s Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain last week and Saturday’s league win over Chelsea.
Guardiola’s side looked set to take a huge step towards the knockout stages of the Champions League as they opened up a 2-0 lead over PSG thanks to second-half goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland.
But Paris Saint-Germain produced a stirring comeback to win 4-2 and put City’s Champions League hopes in real jeopardy.
Manchester City are 25th going into their final group game, with the top-eight teams qualifying automatically for the knockout stages and the teams from 9th to 24th going into a play-off.
City’s final group opponents, Club Brugge, are currently 20th with three wins, two draws and two defeats from seven games.
Guardiola was hoping to have dynamic winger Doku back at his disposal after he missed back-to-back games but now expects to be without the Belgium international for ‘a while’, suggesting he will also miss next weekend’s trip to Arsenal.
The Emirates Stadium clash will be huge for both clubs as hosts Arsenal look to reel in runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool and Manchester City aim to secure a top-four finish despite their shocking dip.
Asked how long Doku will be out for, Guardiola said: ‘A while. I don’t know how much. But a while.
‘He will not be ready for Wednesday for sure, I don’t think. For Arsenal, we’ll see.’
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In more welcome news for Manchester City, John Stones marked his return from the treatment room in Saturday’s comeback win over Chelsea.
Stones impressed in his first Premier League appearance in almost a month after replacing Man City debutant Abdulkodir Khusanov in the second half.
Khusanov, who only arrived at the Etihad Stadium last week, endured a difficult debut, making an error in the build-up to Chelsea’s opener and then receiving a yellow card, all in the first five minutes of the match.
Asked whether Stones’ return is important for City’s immediate concerns, Guardiola added: ‘Absolutely.
‘We continue with the problems. Khusanov should have not played, it takes time to do it. It’s not easy.
‘Playing Chelsea in the Premier League, coming from a new country and not communicating much with the mates and no training sessions to see what we want to do and the process we want to have.
‘It’s not easy to start in the way it started. Imagine we all lived what Khusanov has lived, and what happened!
‘Ruben is not there, Nathan either, we are lucky Manu stayed fit and John can help us in our final on Wednesday.
‘There are players who are reliable and ones who have more injuries than other ones.
‘Hopefully now, this time he [Stones] recovers better, we give him more time, he played really good this 35, 40 minutes and has to make an effort for Wednesday.
‘We have to give time for Nathan and Ruben to come back as quickly as possible. But the situation is tough and will continue being tough.’
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