Pep Guardiola has suggested three Manchester City defenders are ‘out for the season’ as the title battle with Liverpool nears its conclusion.
The Reds are still battling to win the Premier League title, but were dealt a blow with this weekend’s results. Liverpool were held to a 1-1 draw with Tottenham Hotspur, while Man City ran out 5-0 winners over Newcastle United.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are now three points behind City with three matches left to play. Next up for Liverpool is an away trip to Aston Villa in midweek, while Guardiola's men travel to Wolves.
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During City’s win over Newcastle, Guardiola was forced to replace centre-back Ruben Dias at half time due to injury. Fellow defenders John Stones and Kyle Walker were absent from the match, and their boss has indicated the trio will not play again this term.
"Ruben, Kyle and John are out for the season,” Guardiola said as per the Manchester Evening News .
Those injuries leave Oleksandr Zinchenko, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo and Nathan Ake as the only fit senior defenders, although the latter missed the win over Newcastle with a slight knock. Midfielder Fernandinho filled in at centre-back when Dias went off injured.
"A lot, otherwise, it’s CJ (Ega-Riley) or (Luke) Mbete,” said Guardiola, when asked if Fernandinho will be important for City in the run-in against Liverpool.
"In this situation it’s not a problem, Rodri can play there. We have the academy. Everyone has to do extra.
“Thirteen players and a half for these games and everyone has to do more and more to help our absence. We arrive with problems and that’s all. Fernandinho did good and we are going to do it."
