Pep Guardiola is set to play Fernandinho at centre back after reporting there is no change to Manchester City's injury situation from the weekend. The 37-year-old Brazil international had to step in for the second half of the 5-0 win over Newcastle at the weekend after Ruben Dias was forced off with a hamstring injury.
And he is set to resume the role alongside Aymeric Laporte as the Blues head to Wolves for tomorrow night's Premier League encounter, looking to keep their noses ahead of Liverpool in the title race. Nathan Ake was on the subs' bench at the weekend but Guardiola later revealed he has been suffering with a long-standing ankle problem, which meant he could not step in for Dias.
Dias is out for the rest of the season, along with John Stones and right back Kyle Walker, with Guardiola saying he only has three fit senior defenders left: Joao Cancelo, Laporte and Oleks Zinchenko. He said on Sunday he was hopeful that Ake may be available for the trip to West Ham this coming Sunday, but that he was a doubt for the Molineux game.
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The manager confirmed that was still the situation, saying: "Nothing changed after the game against Newcastle — we are who we are and we are going into the last three games with players we have and we go for it. the other players are going to solve it, go for it."
That almost certainly means Fernandinho will start at centre back against Wolves, although Guardiola did throw Rodri's name into the ring as well when asked about his options.
Wolves geared up for the visit of City by storming back from 2-0 down t grab a draw at Chelsea, but Guardiola said that result did not change his view of the Black Country outfit, saying: "Honestly, it’s not about that result against Chelsea.
"Always they have been one of the toughest opponents we face for many reasons — Neto, Jimenez, Dendoncker — the personality, the competitive players they are, the back five, many years in that system, one of the toughest away games we have.
"We know how important it is, hopefully we recover well and we have to do a good game, this is most important thing in our heads."
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