Soccer-Man City facing injury crisis as key battles loom large

September 19, 2021

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters) – Manchester City will have to field several youngsters in Tuesday’s League Cup clash against Wycombe Wanderers as a number of players are suffering from injuries, manager Pep Guardiola said.

“I don’t have any alternative (against Wycombe)… we are going to play a few young players,” Guardiola was quoted as saying by the club’s website on Sunday.

“We have John (Stones), Aymeric (Laporte), Oleks (Zinchenko), Rodri and I think (Ilkay) Gundogan all of them injured.

“It’s a good opportunity for the academy – that’s why they are there.”

Following the match against Wycombe, City face Premier League leaders Chelsea, Paris St Germain in the Champions League and then Liverpool within a space of nine days, meaning the injuries are causing Guardiola a considerable amount of concern.

“Some players might rest for the games we have coming up ahead of us,” he added.

“Ruben (Dias) played all of the minutes so far and Joao (Cancelo) played all of the minutes, too, so I don’t think they will be able to play in this game.”

(Reporting by Peter Hall, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

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